News 08:00

BULLETIN 28 March 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The FF Plus says the ruling on Kill the Boer shows human relations have deteriorated
# A Judge orders the Trump administration to keep its Signal group chat records
# And motorsport: South Africa’s F1 Bid Steering Committee has received three bids

# The Freedom Front Plus says the Constitutional Court ruling on the apartheid-era chant Kill the Boer chant is disappointing and concerning. The apex court dismissed AfriForum’s application for leave to appeal previous rulings which found that the chant did not constitute hate speech. FF Plus leader, Corné Mulder, says when the country’s highest court condones the incitement of murder against a minority group, the minority on the receiving end cannot and must not remain silent:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa is set to deliver the keynote address at the Women Economic Assembly in Sandton, Johannesburg, today. The private sector, civil society, women’s organisations, businesswomen, and government have partnered to form the Women Economic Assembly. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says this is an initiative to facilitate the participation of women-owned businesses in core areas of the economy:

# ActionSA in Tshwane says the multiparty coalition government’s 2025/2026 draft budget reflects a commitment to responsible governance. This is the metro’s first funded budget in four years. ActionSA’s, Tshepiso Modiba, says the coalition government must be commended for reducing its reliance on contracted services by 210-million-rand in pursuit of building internal capacity. He adds that this commitment to building a self-reliant city is evidenced by the proposed five-percent reduction in contracted services:

# A US federal judge has ordered White House officials to preserve messages sent on the Signal messaging app between March 11 to 15. On Monday, Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic reported he was inadvertently added to a Signal group chat with top Trump administration officials, where an imminent strike against the Houthi rebel group in Yemen was discussed. Judge James Boasberg’s order stems from a lawsuit filed by advocacy group American Oversight, which alleges that Trump officials’ use of Signal violated federal records laws.

# Motorsport: The South African F1 Bid Steering Committee has confirmed that three bids were received by the deadline date of 18 March. The country is expected to submit its official bid to host a Grand Prix race in 2027 in May this year. South Africa last held a race in 1993 at Kyalami in Gauteng. The committee says the evaluation process for the received bids will be concluded by the end of April. It adds that these proposals will have to comply with F1 requirements.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-25-cents and the euro at 19-rand-70-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-63-cents and Bitcoin trades at 86-thousand-838-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-70-dollars-80-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-30-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….