News 07:00

BULLETIN 13 September 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA outlines measures to tackle South Africa’s fiscal crisis
# COSATU welcomes Steenhuisen’s call for Cabanac to step down
# And the world’s first commercial spacewalk is a major success

# We have just learned that the former minister of Public Enterprises, Pravin Gordhan has died in hospital at the age of 75 – more details will follow in our next bulletin.

# The DA has proposed urgent measures to address the fiscal crisis, including cutting government spending and reforming state-owned enterprises. The party called for a comprehensive spending review, converting the social relief of distress grant into permanent job seekers grant, and reducing public sector wages. In his speech at the Cape Town Press Club, DA leader John Steenhuisen suggested restructuring ports and using a World Bank regulatory impact assessment to boost economic confidence: 

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Siyahlola Programme is aimed at overseeing infrastructure recovery projects. Speaking at the National Council of Provinces, Ramaphosa said the programme will guide the national infrastructure plan for 2050. It includes site visits to assess project progress and implementation. He said the initiative seeks to unblock project delays, ensuring smoother infrastructure development:

# COSATU has welcomed Agriculture minister John Steenhuisen’s decision to remove Roman Cabanac as Chief of Staff following public outcry. The union criticised Cabanac’s lack of experience in government and agriculture, noting his controversial social media history. The federation expressed concern over the delay in Steenhuisen’s decision, but hopes this marks a step towards better appointments, especially in sectors needing transformation. It says that the case highlights the importance of qualified leadership in government roles.

# The Freedom Front Plus is calling on Emfuleni’s mayoral committee member for Finance, Hassan Mako, to urgently address the municipality’s debt problem. The Sheriff of the Court successfully attached the municipality’s four bank accounts yesterday, after it failed to honour its debt-relief agreement with Eskom. As of the 31st of August, Emfuleni owed the power utility over eight-billion-rand for bulk electricity. The FF Plus says residents should no longer be punished for the ANC’s failed governance of Emfuleni.

# Motorsport: McLaren’s Lando Norris says he wants to try to earn the F1 world title on merit. As team boss Andrea Stella revealed ahead of this weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix, they would prioritise Norris. The British driver is 62 points behind Red Bull’s Max Verstappen in the drivers’ championship. Norris says McLaren’s decision to prioritise him in the title race does not mean his teammate Oscar Piastri will give up race wins:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-72-cents and the euro at 19-rand-65-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-90-dollars-71-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-563-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-21-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A four-person crew on a private mission aboard a SpaceX capsule completed the world’s first commercial spacewalk yesterday. Billionaire tech CEO Jared Isaacman and SpaceX engineer Sarah Gillis became the first non-professional crew to perform a spacewalk. Crewmates Scott Poteet and Anna Menon stayed inside the capsule. The Polaris Dawn crew will spend another couple of days in orbit checking off remaining mission goals, this includes working through the rest of their list of nearly 40 experiments.

Stay tuned for more news………….