News 08:00

BULLETIN 18 March 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Creecy says there is progress with the overhaul of the Air Traffic Navigation Service
# A Western Cape advocacy group is also on its way to Trump
# And rugby: The Shimlas, Maties, Tuks, and UJ record victories in the fifth round of the Varsity Cup

# Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, says work is being done to stabilise the Air Traffic Navigation Service. In December, the minister appointed an intervention team to explore critical difficulties at the state-owned entity. The team released its draft report in January highlighting four problem areas, essential shortages of staff, critical communication equipment, flight procedures and systematic weaknesses in safety management systems. Creecy has acknowledged that there was a lapse in submitting flight procedures to the Civil Aviation Authority for approval:

# The Cape Independence Advocacy Group says it intends to send a delegation to the US to meet with officials and other politically connected persons. The group has written to president Cyril Ramaphosa, International Relations and Cooperation minister, Ronald Lamola, and Western Cape premier, Alan Winde, formally notifying them of their intentions. The advocacy group’s, Phil Craig, says they will be conducting constitutionally protected activities that strengthen rather than subvert constitutional democracy in South Africa:

# The DA in Tshwane will today submit a formal complaint to the Public Protector, over concerns about the credentials of Triotic Protection Services and its questionable business dealings with the City of Tshwane. The security company allegedly has links to ANC deputy mayor Bonzo Modise. The DA says the complaint will highlight that Triotic Protection Services lacks the necessary credentials to operate in this capacity, and questions whether the company should be allowed to conduct business with the metro, given its close ties with Modise.

# A US federal court judge is demanding an explanation from president Donald Trump’s administration as to why it failed to obey his order on the deportation of alleged Venezuelan gang members. The administration used the Alien Enemies Act to deport over 238 mostly Venezuelan alleged gang members to a prison in El Salvador on Saturday. This is despite Judge James Boasberg ordering deportation flights to be turned around. White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, says they did not violate Boasberg’s order:

# Rugby: Defending champions University of the Free State-Shimlas returned to winning ways, with a hard-fought 16-9 victory over the Central University of Technology in the fifth round of the Varsity Cup. Log leaders the University of Stellenbosch-Maties continued their unbeaten streak by defeating the University of Cape Town-Ikeys 31-24 in the Cape derby. The University of Pretoria-Tuks beat North West University-Eagles 26-17 to remain in contention for the playoffs, while the University of Johannesburg saw off the University of Witwatersrand 32-24.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-10-cents and the euro at 19-rand-75-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-49-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-954-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-11-dollars-49-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-90-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….