News 11:00

BULLETIN 7 August 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Black Business Council says politicians should no longer serve on the PIC board
# Rugby: The Puma flyhalf Tomás Albornoz will miss the Springboks’ clash after his altercation with a referee
# And widespread cold, wet and windy conditions are expected for the long weekend

# The Black Business Council supports Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s call for changes to be made to the Public Investment Corporation Act. Earlier this week, he confirmed cabinet would soon consider proposals to replace the long-standing practice of a deputy minister chairing the board with an independent non-executive chairperson possessing expertise in pensions, investments and financial markets. The council says politicians should no longer serve on the PIC board, emphasising it needs an independent chairperson with an impeccable reputation.

# Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati says government needs to address risks to the power utility’s finances and its lenders before transferring assets to the Independent Transmission System Operator. President Cyril Ramaphosa has endorsed the first phase of recommendations from a task team that reaffirmed the objective of placing the grid under the control of a separate entity. Nyati told Bloomberg the transfer could trigger change-of-control provisions in lending agreements and give rise to accounting complications. He says Eskom favours a model whereby an independent operator would serve as a neutral market coordinator.

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump has signed two executive orders that seek to broaden the categories of children ineligible for automatic US citizenship, and ban so-called birth tourism. Last month the Supreme Court rejected his effort to end birthright citizenship. The Migration Policy Institute estimate birth tourism at 22-thousand to 26-thousand babies born annually on American soil. Trump says the order also denies birthright citizenship to children whose parents engaged in fraudulent activity to obtain citizenship:

# Rugby: Argentinian flyhalf Tomás Albornoz will miss tomorrow’s one-off Test against the Springboks in Buenos Aires after receiving a four-match ban. This happened after he confronted Australian referee Angus Gardner during last month’s ill-tempered Nations Championship home Test against England. Albornoz had to be physically restrained by one of his coaches and a teammate after Gardner disallowed a try that could’ve secured a draw for Argentina in the dying minutes. He will also miss Los Pumas’ two Tests against Australia.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-33-cents and the euro at 18-rand-81-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-97-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-244-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-291-dollars-45-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-75-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The South African Weather Service expects a cold front to make landfall over the Western and Northern Cape on Sunday, bringing cold to very cold, wet and windy conditions and rough sea conditions, with snowfall over the mountains. The conditions will spread eastwards into the Eastern Cape. Forecaster Tokelo Chiloane says on Monday, the upper-air trough is expected to deepen even further as it moves over the central to eastern parts of the country:

Stay tuned for more news………….