News 12:00

BULLETIN 4 March 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA initiates legal proceedings to obtain the ANC/Ezulweni agreement 
# The chief justice denies reports that Gwede Mantashe has successfully challenged the state capture report 
# And rugby: France wins the first men’s Sevens title in 19 years

# ActionSA has confirmed it has initiated legal proceedings to obtain the debt settlement agreement entered into between the ANC and Ezulweni Investments. This comes after the ANC disclosed donations of only ten-million-rand in the same quarter it communicated its 102-million-rand debt settlement with Ezulweni. ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, says they have also requested the IEC Political Party Funding Unit to investigate this agreement for alleged breaches of the Party Funding Act:

# Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has denied a City Press report claiming that Mineral Resources and Energy minister Gwede Mantashe had successfully challenged the commission of inquiry into state capture’s report. The commission recommended further investigations into Mantashe related to his home security installations by facilities management and catering company Bosasa. He was the secretary-general of the ANC at the time. Zondo says Mantashe’s review application is still pending before the courts and has not yet been decided.

# Eskom in the Western Cape has successfully constructed and activated an alternative 132-kilovolt power line to its customers in the Central Karoo, allowing for seamless rerouting of electricity when necessary. This follows a severe storm last month, which caused widespread damage to critical infrastructure, resulting in a large-scale two-week power outage. Eskom spokesperson Zama Mpondwana says the development will mitigate the impact of such incidents in the future.

# US vice president Kamala Harris will meet with Israeli war cabinet member Benny Gantz at the White House today. Washington is reportedly seeking to reach a deal for a temporary ceasefire and increase the flow of aid to Gaza. A White House official says the talks are expected to span topics including reducing Palestinian civilian casualties, securing a temporary ceasefire, the release of hostages held in Gaza and increasing aid to the territory.

# Rugby: France defeated Great Britain to win the World Rugby Sevens Series title in Los Angeles, their first title in 19 years. France secured the men’s gold medal with three unanswered tries in a 21-nil victory, with their only previous victory coming on home soil in Paris back in 2005 and having lost all six finals they have contested since then. Player of the final, Stephen Parez, says winning bronze in Canada last week, and gold this week is amazing:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-2-cents and the euro at 20-rand-62-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-10-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-944-dollars-6-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-84-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-87-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….