News 08:00

BULLETIN 21 February 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa insists the government of national unity is not in a crisis
# Six suspects are killed in a shootout with the police in the Eastern Cape
# And Israel says one of the bodies returned by Hamas is not Shiri Bibas

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the dispute over the tabling of the national budget will not threaten the existence of the government of national unity. Parties within the coalition government rejected the proposed two-percent value-added tax, leading to the budget being postponed to March 12. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the G20 foreign ministers meeting in Johannesburg on Thursday, Ramaphosa said there is a willingness from all parties to find common ground:

Meanwhile the GOOD Party is calling on the National Treasury to allow enough time for sufficient consultation before tabling the budget. GOOD’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, says the VAT increase would have raised almost 60-billion-rand in additional revenue for 2025/2026, which is quite frankly absurd:

# Six armed suspects were killed during a shootout with police on the N2 near Ndabakazi outside Butterworth in the Eastern Cape on Thursday. One of those killed is believed to be Yanga “Bara” Nyalara, Khayelitsha’s most feared resident, who is also dubbed the extortion kingpin. Police spokesperson, Siphokazi Mawisa, says they followed up on information about two vehicles with firearms driving from Cofimvaba. She says when they attempted to stop the vehicles, the suspects sped off:

# The Israeli military has accused Hamas of a serious violation of the ceasefire agreement, saying tests show that one of the four bodies released by the militant group does not belong to any other hostage. The military says it has identified two of the dead bodies returned by Hamas on Thursday as Ariel and Kfir Bibas, however a third body that was expected to be that of their mother Shiri is not hers. The fourth body returned was that of veteran peace activist, Oded Lifshitz.

# Tennis: Czech Republic’s Jiri Lehecka recorded the biggest win of his career by defeating top seed Carlos Alcaraz of Spain, 6-3, 3-6, 6-4, to reach the Qatar Open semifinals in Doha. British number one Jack Draper fought back from a set down to beat Italian Matteo Berrettini, 4-6, 6-4, 6-3. Russia’s Andrey Rublev defeated Australia’s Alex de Minaur, 6-1, 3-6, 7-6, to set up a semifinal clash with Canada’s Felix Auger-Aliassime, who was awarded a walkover against Russia’s Daniil Medvedev, after he retired with illness.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-32-cents and the euro at 19-rand-24-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-22-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-289-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-929-dollars-21-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….