News 08:00

BULLETIN 2 March 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Iranian embassy in South Africa is helping to ensure the safe return of stranded South Africans
# The parliamentary ad hoc committee will receive a legal opinion on Paul O’Sullivan
# And soccer: Namibia shocks South Africa to win the COSAFA Women’s Championship

# The Iranian embassy in South Africa has committed to working with the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to assist South Africans in Tehran. This follows the joint deadly US-Israeli military strikes in Iran over the weekend. South Africans are stranded in the Middle East as strikes have forced many airlines to ground their flights. Iran’s ambassador to South Africa, Seyed Mostafa Daryabari, says they are in direct communication with their officials in Tehran to ensure the safe return of South African citizens.

Meanwhile president Donald Trump says there will likely be more US casualties as part of ‘Operation Epic Fury’ in Iran. This comes after three American service members were killed in action during the operation, and five were seriously wounded. Iran retaliated by striking US military bases in the Middle East. Trump says the operation will continue in full force until all of their objectives are achieved:

# Parliament’s Ad Hoc Committee will meet today to receive an update on the matter regarding forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan, and the legal opinion relating to his walkout last week. On Thursday, O’Sullivan walked out of the committee meeting while he was being questioned, saying he had a flight to catch. Members of the committee want him summoned to return and respond to outstanding questions. The EFF has laid a criminal complaint against O’Sullivan. The committee will also discuss the scheduling of witnesses and correspondence received.

# Gauteng Finance MEC Lebogang Maile says the province’s biggest structural challenge remains population growth. About 230-thousand people migrate to Gauteng each year, including around 50-thousand children who relocate to the province for schooling. Maile says they have allocated about 1.1-billion-rand in this financial year for scholar transport, but rising pupil numbers continue to put pressure on the programme. He adds that they are exploring public-private partnerships to meet scholar transport demand fully:

# Soccer: Namibia stunned seven-time champions Banyana Banyana 2-1 in extra-time to win the COSAFA Women’s Championship in Polokwane. South Africa took the lead through Nthabiseng Majiya in the first half. The Brave Gladiators responded in the second half with substitute Muhinatjo Hanavi levelling matters before Memory Ngonda struck early in extra time to secure a first COSAFA crown for Namibia. Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says this defeat is disappointing:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-1-cent and the euro at 18-rand-88-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-53-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-676-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-358-dollars-45-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-45-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….