News 11:00

BULLETIN 2 September 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Kubayi expresses confidence in Leonard Lekgetho’s ability to lead the SIU with integrity
# The Goldman Sachs Group sees South Africa returning to investment grade by 2028
# And rugby: The Bok scrum coach refutes allegations of encroachment in scrums

# Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, says the appointment of Leonard Lekgetho as new head of the Special Investigating Unit comes at a time when government continues to strengthen its efforts to combat corruption. Lekgetho has 19 years’ experience in the SIU. The department’s spokesperson, Palesa Rammitlwa, says Kubayi is confident Lekgetho’s experience and institutional knowledge will serve him well in leading the unit and carrying forward its important mandate:

# The Goldman Sachs Group believes South Africa could regain its investment status as soon as 2028, as ratings companies reward the country’s improving finances and economic growth. Its analysis suggests scope for the government ten-year local-currency yield to fall more than 100 basis points to 7.6-percent. Goldman economist Andrew Matheny says they expect better fiscal dynamics, firmer growth and a stronger policy backdrop to drive credit upgrades over the next year. S&P Global Ratings and Moody’s Ratings have South Africa two notches below investment grade, with positive outlooks.

# The DA says the Gauteng Department of Agriculture and Rural Development has a lot to answer for regarding the vaccination of animals against foot and mouth disease. The department admitted only 540-thousand animals were vaccinated despite receiving over 757-thousand-340 vaccine doses. The DA’s Bronwynn Engelbrecht says this leaves over 200-thousand vaccines that have not been administered, which may hurt efforts at containing the outbreak:

Moving abroad:

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky has warned airlines and passengers against using Russian airspace, saying it is becoming completely unsafe. Kyiv closed its airspace to civilian aircraft at the beginning of the war. Chinese, Turkish and Gulf state airlines are among those using Russian airspace. Zelensky says his country will escalate its drone strikes against Moscow, but maintained he is not threatening civilian aviation. In response, Russian president Vladimir Putin stated Zelensky’s comments amounts to a declaration of state terrorism.

# Rugby: Springbok scrum coach Daan Human says it’s not in his nature to try to cheat or instruct his players to scrum illegally. This follows New Zealand coach Dave Rennie’s accusations over South Africa’s alleged underhanded tactics in the scrum. He suggested the Boks were “walking around” opponents in the set-piece. Human says they will work even harder to be precise in what they are doing in a scrum, emphasising straightforward dominance:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-18-cents and the euro at 18-rand-71-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-577-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-320-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 97-dollars-25-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….