News 09:00

BULLETIN 17 October 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Transport Department says the legal battle between the Road Accident Fund and Auditor-General is reckless
# Tennis: Carlos Alcaraz will play against his idol Rafael Nadal for the last time
# And president Ramaphosa grants Pastor McCauley a Special Provincial funeral

# The Transport Department has expressed concern at the ongoing legal battle between the Road Accident Fund and the Office of the Auditor General over accounting reporting methodology. The three-year-long legal battle has cost the fund more than ten-million-rand so far. Deputy minister of Transport, Mkhuleko Hlengwa, told Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts that the fund cannot be selective in what it accepts from the Auditor General, which also applies to court rulings:

Meanwhile, Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts has also expressed concern about the adverse audit outcome of the Road Accident Fund for the 2023/2024 financial year. The financially distressed fund reported a significantly reduced deficit of 1.8-billion-rand for its 2023/2024 financial year compared to the 8.4-billion-rand deficit in the previous year. The committee has also expressed concern about the financial sustainability of the fund under its current funding model, which relies mainly on the fuel levy as its main source of revenue stream.

# The Special Investigating Unit and the Gauteng legislature’s Integrity Commission have signed a memorandum of understanding, to enhance governance, ethics, and integrity through collaborative oversight. The collaboration will include responding to complaints, sharing reports, and exchanging governance information. SIU head, Andy Mothibi, says this is another step in implementing and maintaining high standards of integrity in the public sector. He adds that by combining their strengths, they can fight against corruption, maladministration, and malpractices.

# Tennis: Spaniards Rafael Nadal and Carlos Alcaraz will play each other for the last time in the semifinals of the Six Kings Slam exhibition event in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia today. Nadal, who has won 22 Grand Slam titles, announced last week that he will retire after the Davis Cup Finals in Malaga next month. Alcaraz defeated Denmark’s Holger Rune, 6-4, 6-2, to set up a meeting with the 38-year-old. Alcaraz says Nadal is a very important person in his life:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-63-cents and the euro at 19-rand-15-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-90-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-427-dollars-79-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-678-dollars-13-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-34-cents a barrel.

# And finally, president Cyril Ramaphosa has designated the funeral of Pastor Ray McCauley as a Special Provincial Official Funeral Category 2. This follows Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s request that the president honour the life of the Rhema Bible Church founder. He passed away last week at the age of 75. Premier’s spokesperson, Sizwe Pamla, says Lesufi has described McCauley as a pioneering religious leader:

Stay tuned for more news………….