News 12:00

BULLETIN 19 February 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Business Leadership South Africa says the budget speech is more critical than ever
# RISE Mzansi says Gauteng’s state of the province address must be about residents 
# And Motorsport: F1 urges Red Bull to resolve a probe into Christian Horner as soon as possible 

# Business Leadership South Africa says the upcoming budget speech is more critical than ever to business sentiment. Finance minister, Enoch Godongwana, will deliver the budget speech on Wednesday. The business organisation’s CEO, Busisiwe Mavuso, says there has been a clear effort to rein in spending, but the challenge is that the economy has not cooperated. She says some of the key issues she will be watching out for in the budget include the financial predicament of Transnet and Eskom, infrastructure investment, and changes to tax rates.

# RISE Mzansi’s Gauteng premier candidate, Vuyiswa Ramokgopa, says the State of The Province Address should be centred around people. Premier Panyaza Lesufi will deliver the address at the Nasrec Expo Centre this evening, where he will reflect on the progress made by the provincial government. Ramokgopa says rebuilding the province’s economy so that it creates jobs for millions of people, including those over 35 who were sitting at home, must be a priority:

# The Tshwane metro says its technicians are hard at work attending to power supply interruptions in various parts of the municipality caused by the recent stormy weather. The situation has resulted in a massive restoration backlog. Spokesperson Selby Bokaba says to ensure the backlog is addressed speedily, the city has deployed maximum resources to the affected areas since this morning:

# Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, says those who were against a Rafah offensive were effectively telling the country to lose the war against Hamas. Countries including the US and the UK have warned Netanyahu against sending troops into Rafah, with particular concern about civilians who are sheltering there. Netanyahu says he rejects any scenario in which Hamas would be able to rebuild its military and governing capabilities:

# Motorsport: Formula One has urged Red Bull to resolve the investigation into team principal, Christian Horner, as soon as possible. Horner is being probed following an allegation of inappropriate behaviour being made against him by a colleague. The 50-year-old has strongly denied the allegations. F1 says it hopes the matter will be clarified at the earliest opportunity, after a fair and thorough process. Pre-season testing begins on Wednesday ahead of the opening race of the year in Bahrain on the second of next month.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-89-cents and the euro at 20-rand-37-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-84-cents and Bitcoin trades at 52-thousand-263-dollars-75-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-20-dollars-8-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-70-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….