News 09:00

BULLETIN 24 May 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An economist says Moody’s signals growing confidence in South Africa
# Minister Aucamp is saddened by the discovery of two tourists’ bodies at the Kruger National Park
# And rugby: The Pumas retain the SA Cup in a tense encounter against the Griquas

# Momentum Investments’ Chief Economist, Sanisha Packirisamy, says Moody’s Ratings revised South Africa’s sovereign rating outlook from stable to positive, while affirming the credit rating at Ba2. She says the outlook upgrade reflects improving fiscal performance and structural reforms that are stabilising debt and supporting an economic recovery since 2007, despite a global slowdown. However, Packirisamy says Moody’s maintained the Ba2 rating to reflect that South Africa’s economic fundamentals remain relatively weak and the improvements are still in their early stages:

# The minister of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, Willie Aucamp, has expressed shock after the tragic discovery of the bodies of two tourists in the northern section of the Kruger National Park, in Limpopo. He says a search operation was launched Thursday evening after camp staff noticed the tourists had not returned to the camp they were booked in. Their bodies were discovered on Friday by other tourists:

# Cosatu has welcomed president Cyril Ramaphosa’s promulgation of Sections 5, 6 and 19 of the Companies’ Amendment Act. COSATU’s spokesperson, Matthew Parks says the promulgation of these long overdue provisions compels listed companies and state-owned enterprises to submit their remuneration policies for approval. He says this is including the total packages and the wage gap between their highest and lowest paid employees, to their shareholders at their annual general meetings:

# The Freedom Front Plus in Tshwane has called on the metro to urgently engage with Eskom and implement proven measures against cable theft. The party’s Willie Spies says these include replacing copper cables with alternative materials of low re-sale value as scrap metals, installing vibration sensors and radio monitoring, and cable armouring. He says the FF Plus is driving a petition against cable theft in Groenkloof following two weeks of constant power outages in the area:

# A suspect was killed on Saturday evening in Washington DC after he opened fire on Secret Service agents in the streets surrounding the White House. According to a US Secret Service statement a man started firing on its agents in the vicinity of 17th Street and Pennsylvania Avenue. Secret Service police returned fire and struck the suspect who were pronounced dead in hospital. No Secret Service agents were injured but a bystander was struck by gunfire. CBS has since reported the suspect was Nasire Best, a 21-year-old man who was already known to the Secret Service.

# And rugby: An extra time penalty goal by Danrich Visagie was the final nail in the coffin in a tense SA Cup final between Griquas and the Pumas in Kimberley last night. The visitors secured a 38-35 victory to successfully defend their crown after going into the break with a commanding 28-7 lead. However, the Northern Cape side fought back to level the scores at 28-28 and force the game into extra time. Tiaan Lange scored twice for Griquas, while Cameron Hufke, Janco Uys and Caleb Abrahams added one try each. The Pumas’ tries came from Ntsika Fisanti, Wian van Niekerk and Danrich Visagie, with two more from Jaycee Nel.

Stay tuned for more news………….