News 13:00

BULLETIN 7 September 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The High Court dismisses Mapisa-Nqakula’s discharge bid
# The Jub Jub firearm case is postponed to 17 September
# And golf: South Africa’s Thriston Lawrence becomes only the second player to win the European Masters three times

# The High Court in Pretoria dismissed former National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s application for a discharge under Section 174 of the Criminal Procedure Act. She faces 12 counts of corruption and one of money laundering. Mapisa-Nqakula allegedly received 4.5-million-rand in kickbacks from Defence Force contractor Nombasa Ntsondwa-Ndhlovu between 2016 and 2019, when she was minister of Defence. Judge Mashudu Munzhelele ruled the state’s evidence warrants calling her to testify:

Staying in the courts:

# The National Prosecuting Authority is ready to proceed with the firearm case against TV personality Molemo Maarohanye, known as Jub Jub. He faces charges linked to an alleged altercation with an e-hailing driver on 14 June. NPA spokesperson Magaboke Mohlatlole confirms Maarohanye appeared before the Germiston Magistrates’ Court in Gauteng today after failing to appear previously. He says the state requested a postponement until 17 September:

# Agricultural organisation TLU SA is pleased with minister of Agriculture Willie Aucamp’s commitment to the transformation of the sector. Government and the private sector have worked together to import over 23-million foot-and-mouth-disease vaccine doses. Every commercial dairy cow in South Africa has received its first dose of vaccine. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl says the sector still has some policy issues which Aucamp still needs to address:

Moving abroad:

# Leading industry trade body Eurometal forecasts the loss of 300-thousand manufacturing jobs in Europe by the end of this year due to intensifying competition from China. China’s manufacturing exports to the European Union have driven the EU’s trade deficit to a record high of 18.52-billion-rand per day. Eurometal president Alexander Julius says the problem is compounded by the fact that European companies are burdened by high carbon-emissions taxes and tariffs on steel imports, while Chinese components are not subject to such charges, making fair competition impossible.

# Golf: Defending champion Thriston Lawrence made history by winning the European Masters in Switzerland, joining Spanish great Seve Ballesteros as the only players to win the tournament three times since 1972. The South African beat Paul Casey on the fourth play-off hole. Another Englishman, Harry Hall, posted a seven-under-par final round to claim third place, one shot behind Lawrence and Casey. Lawrence, who now has six victories on the DP World Tour, won prize money of just over ten-million-rand.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-96-cents and the euro at 18-rand-55-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-61-cents and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-470-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-404-dollars-12-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 98-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….