News 15:00

BULLETIN 26 March 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Ramokgopa announces the new electricity pricing policy review
# The GOOD Party says there’s an urgent need for a new top layer in the police
# And rugby: Tickets for the inaugural Nations Championship are to go on sale next week

# Electricity and Energy minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa says a revised electricity pricing policy will be released for public comment within weeks. Addressing Parliament, he acknowledged affordability concerns as tariffs rose by over eight-percent for Eskom customers from April. Ramokgopa also outlined plans to eliminate load-reduction through smart meters, infrastructure upgrades, and expanded free basic electricity. He noted that over 199-thousand households have already been removed from load-reduction schedules.

# The GOOD Party says there’s an urgent need for a new top layer in the police in the country. This comes as the National Prosecuting Authority has served national police commissioner Fannie Masemola with a court summons next month after he was linked to the irregular awarding of a 360-million-rand tender to Medicare 24. GOOD Secretary-General, Brett Herron says this is a major setback for crime fighting and public confidence.

# The DA in Gauteng is calling on government to prioritise the vetting of individuals working with children against the National Register for Sex Offenders in all departments. The provincial Education Department recently revealed that only eleven-percent of the 86-thousand-367 employees have received clearance certificates, and only 28-thousad-530 vetting applications were submitted from district offices. The DA’s Michael Waters says of these, 24-thousand-260 were received by the Department of Justice and Constitutional Development, with three-thousand-834 applications rejected:

# The National Consumer Commission warns owners of certain 2022–2026 Ford Transit and Transit/Tourneo vehicles against a safety risk. Head of complaints and investigations, Prudence Moilwa, says it affects 582 units nationwide. Vehicles with H7 AGM batteries may emit a rotten-egg smell, hissing sounds, gas venting, or unusual heat, potentially exposing occupants to hydrogen sulphide gas. Owners are urged to visit dealerships for repairs at no cost:

# Rugby: Tickets for the inaugural Nations Championship Tests in South Africa, where the Springboks will face England, Scotland, and Wales, will go on sale next Thursday. The world champions will open their campaign against England in Johannesburg on July 4th, before taking on Scotland in Pretoria on 11 July, and ending with Wales in Durban on July 18th. Tickets are priced from 450-rand for the England Test, 375-rand for Scotland and 250-rand for the Wales Test. Meanwhile, tickets for the Boks’ season opener against the Barbarians in June are already available.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-5-cents and the euro at 19-rand-68-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-398-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-449-dollars-85-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 101-dollars-14-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….