News 11:00

BULLETIN 22 October 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Motsoaledi says no Ebola cases have been detected in South Africa
# The SARS commissioner says A-I agents will help with collection and compliance
# And golf: Louis Oosthuizen leaves LIV and returns to the DP World Tour

# Minister of Health Aaron Motsoaledi says no country is immune to an Ebola outbreak, and while no cases have been detected in South Africa, the country remains on high alert. The Democratic Republic of Congo remains the epicentre, claiming the lives of four-thousand-600 people out of over nine-thousand-500 cases recorded. Cases have also been detected in Nigeria, Kenya and Uganda. Motsoaledi says 24 public and 12 private hospitals have been prepared to handle potential Ebola cases:

# Revenue Service commissioner Johnstone Makhubu says sustainable revenue growth ultimately depends on economic expansion, investment, job creation and broad-based compliance. Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana revised the revenue estimate from 2.14-trillion-rand in 2026/27 to 2.53-trillion-rand in 2029/30 in his mini-budget. Makhubu says they are employing artificial intelligence agents to help with collection and compliance efforts during the remainder of this financial year. He adds every rand recovered through compliance interventions protects honest taxpayers:

Meanwhile, Build One South Africa welcomes the ten-billion-rand fuel relief announced following repeated calls for government to help consumers facing rising costs. The fuel levy will be reduced by three-rand per litre for diesel and one-rand-50-cents for petrol from 4 November, with reduced relief continuing into January. BOSA leader Mmusi Maimane is however concerned the economic growth forecast has been lowered to 1.2-percent, calling for lasting economic reforms, affordable fuel prices and greater accountability for public spending.

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump has defended the release of American citizen Stephen Hubbard from Russian custody, strongly denying that any concessions were given to president Vladimir Putin in exchange. The 74-year-old former teacher was accused of fighting for Ukraine when he was captured in 2022, and sentenced to almost seven years in prison. Trump argues Hubbard would not have been released had his administration not stopped new sanctions against Russia from taking effect last week:

# Golf: South African Louis Oosthuizen will return to the DP World Tour after deciding to leave LIV Golf. The 44-year-old joined LIV five years ago, but the league is experienced an uncertain future after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund withdrew its financial backing. Oosthuizen says the decision was one of the hardest of his career, describing joining LIV as one of the best decisions of his life. But he believes a more flexible playing schedule will give him the best opportunity to still compete at the highest level.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-45-cents and the euro at 18-rand-50-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-333-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-100-dollars-64-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 112-dollars-65-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….