News 07:00

BULLETIN 13 March 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Four Chinese fishing vessels are intercepted
# Canegrowers urges stronger tariffs to protect local sugar producers
# And, Donald Trump downplays the rising oil prices

# Minister of Forestry, Fisheries and Environment, Willie Aucamp, says four Chinese-flagged fishing vessels were intercepted entering South Africa’s Exclusive Economic Zone and territorial waters without the required authorisation. They were detected within 12 nautical miles of the KwaZulu-Natal coast and later tracked along the Eastern Cape coastline. The department’s spokesperson, Zolile Nqayi, says police and fisheries control officers placed the vessels, owned by Shenzhen Shuiwan Pelagic Fisheries, under guard at the Port of Cape Town:

# The suspended head of the police’s Organised Crime Unit, Richard Shibiri, told the Madlanga commission that a 70-thousand-rand payment from tenderpreneur Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala was a loan for car repairs. However, Matlala was recorded telling police the money was for alcohol to celebrate Shibiri’s promotion. Shibiri maintains the police recording is unreliable and insists the payment was intended as a loan:

# SA Canegrowers warns that rising sugar imports are threatening the local industry and the survival of Tongaat Hulett. In January alone, more than 24-thousand tons of sugar entered South Africa from Brazil, India, and Thailand, exceeding annual imports from previous years. The organisation says weak import tariffs and low global prices are displacing locally produced sugar, costing the industry an estimated R1.5-billion last season. SA Canegrowers’ Higgins Mdluli calls on the government to protect the domestic sugar sector and secure Tongaat Hulett’s future.

# The Western Cape government has committed 36.651-billion-rand over the next three years to initiatives that strengthen water security, energy resilience, agriculture, tourism, entrepreneurship, and critical infrastructure. MEC of Finance, Deidré Baartman, delivered the province’s 2026/2027 budget, with 285.8-billion-rand set to be spent over the next three years. Baartman says the provincial government has approved the establishment of the alternative and blended financing reserve:

# US president Donald Trump has downplayed the soaring oil prices, arguing that America benefits from high energy costs. The global oil market has lost about 15-million barrels of crude a day through the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which carries one-fifth of the oil consumed globally. On a post on Truth Social, Trump said what is of far greater interest and importance to him is stopping an evil Empire, Iran, from having nuclear weapons, and destroying the Middle East and, indeed, the world.

# Cricket: Defending champions Royal Challengers Bengaluru will host Sunrisers Hyderabad in the opening match of this season’s Indian Premier League on the 28th of this month. The state of Karnataka recently approved the M Chinnawamy Stadium to host IPL matches after 11 spectators died in a stampede during RCB’s victory celebrations in June last year. However, an expert committee will conduct an inspection today to test the stadium’s readiness. The organisers will release the fixtures of the tournament’s second phase at a later stage.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-73-cents and the euro at 19-rand-28-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 71-thousand-458-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-120-dollars-92-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 97-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….