News 08:00

BULLETIN 28 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Godongwana says the provisions in the VAT Act allow for sound fiscal administration
# Koeberg Unit 1 is taken offline, but nuclear safety is assured
# And, Russia warns Britain of catastrophic consequences for its support of Ukraine

# Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana says the power to raise the value-added tax rate is good fiscal management. The Constitutional Court reserved judgment in a legal battle over who holds the power to set the VAT rate. The DA approached the court to confirm the Western Cape High Court ruling, which declared the unilateral powers of the minister of Finance to determine the VAT rate unconstitutional. Godongwana’s counsel, Advocate Kameshni Pillay, argued that the minister’s power to raise the rate was not unfettered:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the release of the Nkabinde Panel of Inquiry report, which probed the fitness to hold office of Gauteng South Director of Public Prosecutions Andrew Chauke. The panel, chaired by Justice Baaitse Elizabeth Nkabinde, found no credible evidence that Chauke acted unlawfully regarding the prosecution of former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head Johan Booysen and the Cato Manor Unit. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the panel concluded that Chauke had not acted unlawfully in the performance of his coordination functions:

# Eskom says it safely and in line with procedure took Koeberg Nuclear Power Station’s Unit One offline after a turbine trip early yesterday morning. All plant monitoring confirmed that operating conditions remained stable throughout the event. Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says nuclear safety was never compromised, and there was no risk to employees, the public, or the environment. She adds that Koeberg’s protection and monitoring systems functioned as designed, ensuring the unit always remained safe:

# Russia’s Foreign Ministry has warned that it could retaliate against the UK by striking British military facilities both inside and outside of Ukraine. This comes after UK prime minister Andy Burnham announced on Monday that Britain would allow Kyiv access to classified technology to start ⁠its own production of Storm Shadow ​long-range ​cruise missiles. Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova says Britain was one step away from becoming legally complicit in what she described as civilian-targeted terrorism, warning that failure to change course would bring “catastrophic consequences”.

# Soccer: UEFA is reportedly preparing to bring criminal proceedings against FIFA president Gianni Infantino over his attempt to sell shares in the World Cup to private investors. Infantino had proposed creating a new company, FIFA Forward Enterprise, which would have sold off stakes in competitions to private investors. The plan was scrapped after widespread backlash. In court documents, UEFA has accused Infantino of “criminal mismanagement”, saying his proposal was a vehicle to profit from FIFA’s most valuable assets to the detriment of the organisation.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-98-cents and the euro at 18-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-72-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-855-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-582-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….