News 08:00

BULLETIN 19 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa stresses the importance of strengthening the ANC’s provincial structures
# The economy fails to create jobs fast enough
# And motorsport: Bagnaia wins Austrian MotoGP and retakes championship lead

# ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa says the party must strengthen its provincial structures to enable it to improve its capacity in government. The national working committee, which is responsible for conducting the day-to-day operations of the ANC, kicked off its post-election consultation process in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, yesterday. The party lost its majority in the province, receiving just over 17-percent of the vote. Ramaphosa says they are raising the whole level of activism at the branch level:

# South African economist, Maphefo Sipula, says South Africa’s economy struggles to create jobs, with nearly 8.4-million people now unemployed. Sipula told the SABC the alarming unemployment rates among youth is a point of concern. She urged fostering small businesses as a critical solution for job creation and economic recovery:

# The cross-examination of retired cellphone data analyst Lambertus Steyn in the Senzo Meyiwa murder trial will resume in the High Court in Pretoria today. He was recalled to the stand to clarify evidence about alleged communication between one of the accused Fisokuhle Ntuli and Meyiwa’s girlfriend at the time, singer Kelly Khumalo. Ntuli and four others stand accused of the 2014 murder of the Bafana Bafana captain. The recall comes after Vodacom’s Pinky Vythilingam could not verify the two calls Steyn testified about.

# US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is in Israel as part of Washington’s renewed efforts to broker a ceasefire in the ten-month-old conflict in Gaza. A new ceasefire plan drawn up by the US, Qatar, and Egypt was presented last Friday following two days of high-stakes talks in Doha. Mediators have been stepping up efforts amid fears of Iranian retaliation for the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran. US officials have expressed fresh optimism about finalising a ceasefire agreement.

# Motorsport: Defending champion Francesco Bagnaia won a third successive Austrian Grand Prix to retake the lead in the MotoGP title standings. The Italian won the sprint race on Saturday and the main race yesterday to move five points clear in the championship. Spain’s Jorge Martín, who went into the weekend atop the riders’ standings, had to settle for second with Italian Enea Bastianini completing the podium. South Africa’s Brad Binder finished fifth. Bagnaia says he executed everything well:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-81-cents and the euro at 19-rand-67-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-9-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-632-dollars-58-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-502-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-53-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….