News 09:00

BULLETIN 2 March 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Spaza-Shops Association calls for practical, balanced solutions for formalising sector
# NATO’s Rutte urges Zelensky to mend his relationship with Trump
# And rugby: The Stormers’ victory over gthe Bulls enhance their hopes of reaching the URC play-offs

# The South African Spaza-Shops Association says it remains committed to collaborating with the government to ensure the safety and formalisation of the spaza shop sector in the country. Association president Kgothatso Ramautswa says spaza shops are integral to the economy, particularly within townships and rural areas. He called on government to provide clear, consistent guidelines to all municipalities, ensuring standardized and understandable requirements nationwide:

The association adds the spaza shops registration process has presented several challenges. Many informal businesses have struggled with complex registration requirements and bureaucratic delays, hindering their ability to meet the 28th February deadline. Ramautswa says limited access to formal financial systems has made it difficult for small business owners to expand and comply with the new regulations:

# The GOOD party in the Western Cape has condemned the City of Cape Town for recklessly borrowing foreign money linked to the unstable rand. The GOOD Party’s Suzette Little, says Cape Town has borrowed 2.8-billion-rand from the German Development Bank, KfW to finance major electricity grid upgrades. She says there is no guarantee of the rand value over the 15-year duration of the loan:

# NATO chief Mark Rutte has told Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky he needs to find a way to restore his relationship with US president Donald Trump after their clash at a White House meeting on Friday. The confrontation flared over differing views of how to end Russia’s three-year-old invasion. Rutte told Zelensky they all had to respect what Trump has done for Ukraine and reminded Zelensky that Trump was the one who provided Javelin anti-tank weapons to Ukraine in 2019 that had enabled the country’s forces to fight back after Russia’s invasion.

# And rugby: The Stormers kept their hopes alive of reaching the United Rugby Championships play-offs with a 19-16 victory over the Bulls at a sodden Loftus last night. Both teams struggled in the wet conditions with only a converted try each, while the rest of their points came from penalties The half-time score was 12-9 in favour of the visitors. Earlier, the Lions ran rampant over the Sharks at Ellis Park with a convincing victory of 38-14. The hosts ran in six tries with two converted tries from the Durban outfit.  

Stay tuned for more news………….