News 08:00

BULLETIN 19 March 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Treasury wants to improve the financial performance and service delivery in metropolitan trading services
# Fikile Mbalula says the Joburg mayor, Dada Morero, is going nowhere
# And rugby: The Lions focus on reaching the United Rugby Championships playoffs

# National Treasury director-general, Duncan Pieterse, says poor trading service performance in metros constrains economic growth, imposing a high cost on society. He launched the Metro Trading Services Reforms yesterday, which introduces a performance-linked incentive under the Urban Development Financing Grant. Government is offering a grant incentive of 54-billion-rand over six years. Pieterse says the implementation of the reform seeks to stabilise and strengthen the delivery of core basic services in metropolitan municipalities:

The DA has meanwhile welcomed National Treasury’s launch of the Metro Trading Services Reforms, saying this intervention is an inflection point in forcing good governance in metros. The performance-based grant should incentivise the eight metropolitan municipalities to reverse the long-term decline in the provision of municipal trading services. The DA’s Stephen Moore says this is a damning indictment, that one arm of government must impose rules to force another to do its job:

# ANC Secretary General, Fikile Mbalula, says Dada Morero will not be removed as Johannesburg mayor. This follows reports that the party’s Johannesburg regional executive committee had taken a decision to recall Morero, citing his poor performance at last year’s regional elective conference and governance concerns. Mbalula says the ANC’s national working committee has declared the resolution to remove Morero null and void, emphasising that the regional leadership overstepped its powers. He added that only the ANC top seven may deploy or remove mayors in metropolitan municipalities.

# US Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, says Iran’s regime appears to be intact, but largely degraded due to attacks on its leadership and military capabilities. She and other top officials appeared before the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday to provide the latest intelligence community assessment on Iran. Gabbard stated that Iran’s conventional military power projection capabilities have largely been destroyed, leaving limited options:

# Rugby: Lions coach Ivan van Rooyen says they are fully focused on reaching the playoffs of the United Rugby Championship for the first time after winning the South African Shield. He says a bonus-point victory over Edinburgh in Johannesburg on Saturday will help strengthen their case. The Lions are currently seventh on the log with six rounds left, with the top-eight advancing. Van Rooyen says, although they are excited over winning the SA Shield for the first time, the job isn’t done yet.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-92-cents and the euro at 19-rand-43-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-49-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 71-thousand-551-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-859-dollars-10-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 106-dollars-94-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….