News 12:00

BULLETIN 21 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa sends the RICA Amendment Bill back to Parliament over constitutional concerns
# Soccer: Bafana’s coach believes they can qualify for the next World Cup
# And a viral banana artwork sells for over 11-billion-rand in New York

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has requested the National Assembly to reconsider the Regulation of Interception of Communications and Provision of Communication-Related Information Amendment Bill. The legislation, which was passed in Parliament and referred to the president for assent, aims to regulate the interception of certain communications amongst other things. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says the president has expressed his reservations about the constitutionality of the bill:

# RISE Mzansi has criticised the government for lacking data on the economic impact of a Day Zero water crisis in Gauteng. This comes after Trade, Industry and Competition minister Parks Tau admitted that no forecast exists, despite estimates of three-billion-rand daily losses if 40-percent of businesses shut down. The party’s Makhashule Gana calls for collaboration with bodies like the South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry to prepare resilience plans:

# The prime ministers of Sweden and Denmark say they were not ruling out sabotage in the severing of two Baltic Sea cables, adding there was an increased risk of hybrid attacks. The C-Lion 1 submarine cable connecting Helsinki in Finland and the German port of Rostock was cut in Swedish waters. Early Sunday, another telecoms cable, the “Arelion”, running from the Swedish Baltic Sea island of Gotland to Lithuania, was also damaged. The four countries affected by the cuts, Finland, Germany, Lithuania and Sweden, have all launched investigations into the incidents.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos believes his charges can be competitive in next year’s Africa Cup of Nations, and also have a chance to qualify for the next World Cup. South Africa ended their qualifying for Afcon 2025 undefeated when they beat South Sudan 3-nil in Cape Town on Tuesday. Bafana tops Group K and will advance to Morocco together with Uganda. Broos says they now have a good chance of qualifying for the 2026 World Cup since they have a quality team.  

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-15-cents and the euro at 19-rand-14-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-95-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-11-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-663-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-21-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Artist Maurizio Cattelan’s viral creation titled Comedian, which is composed of a single banana taped to a wall, has sold for over eleven-billion-rand at an auction in New York. Chinese collector and founder of a cryptocurrency platform, Justin Sun, acquired the work. Sun will receive a roll of duct tape and one banana, as well as a certificate of authenticity and official instructions for installing the work. Sotheby’s David Galperin has described Comedian as a defiant work of pure genius:

Stay tuned for more news………….