News 12:00

BULLETIN 5 February 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cape Town’s mayor wants president Cyril Ramaphosa to focus on ports, policing, and passenger rail in SONA
# The ANC and the DA have reportedly reached an agreement on key aspects related to NHI
# And tennis: The two-time Grand Slam champion Simona Halep announces her retirement

# Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is calling on president Cyril Ramaphosa to announce major reforms to the management of ports, passenger rail, and policing, in his state of the nation address. The president is set to deliver his address to the country in Cape Town on tomorrow evening. Hill-Lewis says there are huge economic benefits in the region if the city’s port, passenger rail, and policing, are fixed:

# The two main parties in the government of national unity, the ANC and the DA, have reportedly struck an informal agreement on aspects of the National Health Insurance. According to News24, Planning, Monitoring, and Evaluation minister, Maropene Ramokgopa, says Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi and DA leader John Steenhuisen, met on the sidelines of the Cabinet lekgotla last week. According to Ramokgopa, they agreed to a proposal suggesting that under the NHI, the government will not collapse medical aid schemes and that a ministerial advisory council will be established.  

# The Home Affairs Department has issued 970-thousand-543 smart IDs in the third quarter of 2024/2025, surpassing its 575-thousand target by 69-percent. Minister Leon Schreiber says with over 1.8-million smart IDs issued in two quarters, Home Affairs is on track to exceed its annual target of 2.5-million, marking its strongest performance since smart IDs’ introduction:

# Tennis: Former world number one Simona Halep has announced her retirement, saying her body won’t allow her to get back to competing competitively. The 33-year-old Romanian announced her decision at the Transylvania Open following her first-round loss to Italy’s Lucia Bronzetti. Halep, a two-time Grand Slam champion, was given a four-year doping ban in August 2022, which was reduced to nine months after she appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport last year. She has won 22 WTA Tour titles during her career.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-63-cents and the euro at 19-rand-37-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-28-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-853-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-685-dollars-27-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-76-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Today marks nine years since the Lily Mine disaster in Barberton, Mpumalanga, which claimed the lives of Pretty Nkambule, Solomon Nyirenda, and Yvonne Mnisi. The 2016 collapse, caused by illegal mining and neglected safety measures, left the trio trapped underground, their bodies still unrecovered. An inquest blamed government departments and mine operators for failing to prevent the tragedy. Families and supporters continue to demand justice and accountability, as calls are growing for the retrieval of the workers’ remains.

Stay tuned for more news………….