News 11:00

BULLETIN 24 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says disagreement is expected in the government of national unity
# USAID lays off two-thousand employees
# And rugby: The Blitzboks’ coach is happy with their performance in Vancouver

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says disagreements, contradictions and policy divergence are inherent in governments made up of several political parties. This follows last week’s postponement of the budget speech, over disagreements within the government of national unity on proposed tax increases. In his weekly newsletter, Ramaphosa says such differences don’t mean that government is in crisis, but that democracy is working. He says it’s essential that the concerns raised by different parties around the budget are properly addressed, in the interests of accountability, transparency and consensus-building. 

# Auditor-General, Tsakani Maluleke, has urged National Assembly speaker, Thoko Didiza, to exercise her statutory powers to clamp down on municipalities that fail to submit annual financial statements on time. As of 31 January, the number of outstanding audits was reduced to nine, while the Mafube Municipality in the Free State has not yet submitted its annual financial statements. Maluleke says appropriate steps may include referring municipalities to Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts, to scrutinise the reasons for the delays.

# Four suspected robbers were killed in a shootout with police in Ntuzuma in the north of Durban. The suspects were travelling in two vehicles and were allegedly on their way to commit a robbery in KwaMashu when the shooting happened. Police spokesperson, Robert Netshiunda, says three firearms have been recovered on the scene:

# Approximately two-thousand US Agency for International Development employees around the world have been laid off, while some four-thousand-200 staff have been placed on paid administrative leave. Last Friday, a federal judge cleared the way for the Trump administration to put thousands of USAID workers on leave. USAID is the world’s biggest single donor of humanitarian aid. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, who leads the Department of Government Efficiency, has called USAID a criminal organisation, and a viper’s nest of radical-left Marxists who hate America.

# Rugby: Springbok Sevens coach, Philip Snyman, says overall they achieved their objectives despite finishing second in Vancouver, Canada. South Africa lost 19-12 to Argentina in the final, with the Pumas claiming their fourth consecutive title in Vancouver. The Blitzboks are still in contention for the World Sevens Series title with two rounds left. Snyman says they lost the final but gained in many other areas, including expanding player depth:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-33-cents and the euro at 19-rand-27-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-22-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-876-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-940-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….