News 11:00

BULLETIN 20 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Free Market Foundation says government must reduce its public sector spending
# Eskom is working with Natjoints to combat crimes against its employees
# And the DRC is calling for sanctions against Rwanda

# The Free Market Foundation says the postponement of the budget speech allows Finance minister Enoch Godongwana time to develop a budget better suited to the present economic conditions in South Africa. Parties in the government of national unity rejected the minister’s proposed two-percent value-added tax hike, resulting in the budget speech being postponed to March 12th. The foundation says rather than hiking taxes, government should be living within its means, and aggressively cut back on public sector spending.

Meanwhile Save SA has condemned the postponement of the budget speech, calling it a betrayal of the poor and working class. The group accuses the ANC-DA coalition of prioritising party interests over citizens. Save SA’s Tebogo Mashilompane says the delay reflects deep policy disagreements, and question why taxpayers’ money was wasted on preparations. He says the postponement undermines economic stability:

# Eskom is working closely with the National Joint Operational and Intelligence Structure to address the rising wave of violent crimes targeting its employees. The power utility says criminals are employing extreme violence, using firearms, hijacking company and personal vehicles, coercing employees into transferring cash, and even restraining them. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the state-owned entity has suffered direct financial losses amounting to 2.6-million-rand due to these criminal activities:

# The Democratic Republic of Congo is calling on the United Nations Security Council to impose targeted sanctions on the commanders of the Rwandan Defence Forces and political decision-makers. This comes as the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group is advancing on strategic zones in the eastern DRC after taking the cities of Goma and Bukavu. DRC Foreign minister, Thérèse Kayikwamba Wagner, says the Security Council must also immediately revoke Rwanda’s status as a troop-contributing country to UN peacekeeping missions, and strictly monitor arms sales to the country.

# Soccer: Manchester United experienced a 12-percent decrease in revenue in the previous financial quarter, mainly attributed to the departure of manager Erik ten Hag. The English club had revenue of 4.6-billion-rand from October to December in comparison to 5.3-billion the year before. The dismissal of Ten Hag reportedly cost United 243-million-rand, while there was also a 42-percent decline in broadcast revenues. Commercial revenue did increase by 18.5-percent.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-50-cents and the euro at 19-rand-29-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-931-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-947-dollars-45-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-66-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….