News 07:00

BULLETIN 23 February 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Experts caution against dipping into South Africa’s gold and forex reserves
# TLU SA says the 8.5-percent minimum wage rise is simply not sustainable
# And, Alexei Navalny’s mother says she has seen her son’s body

# Experts have cautioned against the move to dip into South Africa’s gold and forex reserves to alleviate borrowing. They emphasise these reserves should instead be utilised judiciously for economic growth, not as free money. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget speech highlighted plans to reform the Gold and Foreign Exchange Contingency Reserve Account to mitigate exchange rate fluctuations and bolster the Reserve Bank’s stability, including a proposed dip into South Africa’s gold and forex reserves to alleviate borrowing.

# Agricultural union TLU SA says it has launched a campaign to empower farmers as the new minimum wage is set to come into effect. As of the first of next month, the minimum wage will increase from 25-rand-42-cents per hour to 27-rand-58-cents. This marks an 8.5-percent increase. TLU SA’s, Bennie van Zyl, says the agriculture sector cannot afford this increase:

# Eskom has refuted claims of offering a five-thousand-rand reward for reporting illegal connections. This comes in response to a social media post alleging that money will be offered for reporting households with bridged connections. Although the utility encourages reporting electricity theft, it says there are no funds available to compensate tip-offs. Eskom stresses the importance of reporting electricity theft, which constitutes a significant portion of its capacity loss, contributing to load-shedding.

# The Gauteng Department of Health has announced its head of department, Sibongile Zulu, will have to approve all applications for commuted overtime by CEOs of hospitals for the upcoming 2024/25 financial year. The department’s head of communication, Motalatale Modiba, says the decision aims to enhance accountability and prevent irregularities in overtime utilisation:

# The mother of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny says she was shown the body of her son at a morgue and has signed his death certificate. The 47-year-old died at the Arctic prison colony last week, where he was serving a 19-year term for charges widely viewed as politically motivated. In a video address, Lyudmila Navalnaya, says Russian authorities have been threatening her into agreeing to a secret funeral for her son, or they will do something with his body. She has demanded that his body be returned to her.

# Swimming: The DA says it will be requesting minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa, to launch an independent investigation into Swimming South Africa. This comes as both the men’s and women’s water polo teams have been withdrawn from going to the Olympic Games in Paris, due to their performances at the recent World Aquatics Championships in Doha, Qatar. The DA’s, Veronica van Dyk, says this highlights systemic issues within SA Aquatics:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-15-cents and the euro at 20-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-26-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-270-dollars-81-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-25-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-33-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….