News 06:00

BULLETIN 20 February 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA receives the ANC’s cadre deployment records
# The European Union vows to hold Putin accountable for Navalny’s death
# And rugby, the Blitzboks face the All Blacks, Great Britain and Ireland in Vancouver

# The DA has confirmed that it has received from the ANC its cadre deployment records dating back to the first of January 2013. Last week, the Constitutional Court dismissed the ANC’s bid to appeal against an order by a lower court to hand over the records of its cadre deployment committee meetings, when president Cyril Ramaphosa became its chairperson. The DA’s Leon Schreiber says this is another important landmark on the party’s journey towards abolishing cadre deployment corruption from South Africa:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the Special Investigating Unit to probe alleged maladministration and unlawful conduct within Home Affairs and Rail Agency PRASA. The investigations aim to recover state financial losses dating back at least ten years for Home Affairs and 14 years for PRASA. The SIU will also scrutinise improper conduct concerning installing T200 firewalls at Home Affairs. Proclamations cover various visa and citizenship matters at the department and tender-related issues at PRASA.

# FTI Consulting’s research has revealed funding the National Health Insurance Scheme would require each formally employed person to contribute one-thousand-500 per month through a payroll tax. Alternatively, a significant increase in VAT to 22-percent, or a more than 30-percent rise in income tax, may be necessary. BusinessTech also reports experts caution the NHI, in its current form, lacks economic viability. The Department of Health has indicated taxpayers will bear the cost, potentially through substantial tax hikes. However, economists are divided on whether the National Treasury will propose such changes.

# Gauteng premier, Panyaza Lesufi, says the provincial economy remained resilient despite the job losses during the Covid-19 pandemic. He delivered the State of the Province address at the Nasrec Expo Centre yesterday evening. Lesufi says the province has attracted more than 68-billion-rand in investments from 261 foreign companies and created about 23-thousand direct jobs in the economy:

# European Union Foreign Policy chief, Josep Borrell, has pledged that Russian president, Vladimir Putin, will be accountable for Alexei Navalny’s death. The 47-year-old, one of Russia’s most significant opposition figures, died at the Arctic prison colony where he was serving a 19-year term for charges widely viewed as politically motivated. Borrell says Russian prison officials linked to Navalny’s death could be added to the list of those subject to asset freezes and travel bans in the EU bloc’s 13th package of sanctions against Russia.

# Rugby: The Blitzboks are grouped with the All Blacks, Great Britain, and Ireland in this weekend’s World Series sevens tournament in Vancouver, Canada. South Africa is currently fourth on the table after winning the first tournament in Dubai, but not doing very well in Cape Town and Perth. Argentina tops the log after winning in the Mother City and Australia, with Fiji second and Australia third. Vancouver will be followed by the tournament in Los Angeles in the United States next weekend.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-42-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-87-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-432-dollars-55-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-18-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-43-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….