News 11:00

BULLETIN 13 March 11 am

Good morning I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The GOOD Party calls for the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill to be challenged
# Business Leadership SA says the current water supply challenges are a threat to the economy
# And tennis: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz reaches the last eight at Indian Wells

# The GOOD Party says the Electoral Matters Amendment Bill, which was passed in the National Assembly yesterday, must be challenged in court. The legislation changes the formula of how political parties and independents represented in legislatures receive funding from government. GOOD’s secretary-general, Brett Herron, says the bill is a thinly veiled response, by the ANC, to the impact new parties are having on changing the shape of South African politics:

# Business Leadership South Africa calls on government to plan to manage new and emerging threats to the economy, including the water supply challenges. Residents in parts of Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal have been experiencing increasingly frequent and lengthy interruptions to water supply. The Blue Drop report released in December showed that 227 of the country’s 985 water supply systems are in critical condition. The business organisation’s CEO, Busisiwe Mavuso, says crumbling infrastructure, load-shedding, and a culture of non-payment by consumers are behind the water service failures.

# The ANC in Ekurhuleni on the Gauteng East Rand says it is disappointed by the unqualified audit opinion with findings the metro received from the Auditor-General for the 2022/23 financial year. This is the first time in three years the metro has failed to get a clean audit. A total of 516-million-rand in irregular expenditure was reported by the Auditor-General. The ANC says this outcome confirms the party’s observation about the sudden lack of prudent political oversight on matters of finance and supply chain management in Ekurhuleni.

# The White House has once again urged Hamas to release women, elderly, and wounded hostages, and accept a temporary ceasefire in the conflict with Israel. Hamas says it will only accept a deal based on a permanent ceasefire that ends the war and includes an Israeli troop withdrawal from Gaza, rather than another temporary truce. White House national security adviser, Jake Sullivan, says a six-week ceasefire would allow time to secure a more lasting one:

# Tennis: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz claimed a straight-sets victory over Fabian Marozsan to reach the quarterfinals at Indian Wells. The Spaniard, who lost their previous meeting in Rome last year, needed just 75-minutes to secure a 6-3, 6-3, victory against the Hungarian. Alcaraz, who will face Germany’s Alexander Zverev next, says he is pleased with his performance: 

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-69-cents and the euro at 20-rand-43-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 72-thousand-870-dollars-69-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-158-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-39-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….