News 13:00

BULLETIN 25 March 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s urgent court application has been delayed 
# Cosatu calls on government to recapitalise the Post Office and the Postbank
# And Olympics: The race is on to make the Paris Games mosquito-free

# National Assembly speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s urgent application in the High Court in Pretoria to halt her arrest for alleged corruption, has been delayed until 3 this afternoon. She denied claims by the National Prosecuting Authority that she had agreed to appear in court, accusing the state of trying to humiliate her. The NPA insists Mapisa-Nqakula knew since 9 March about the decision to prosecute her for corruption. They stated there is ample evidence corroborating the whistle-blower’s account of Mapisa-Nqakula taking bribes of millions of rand during her time as minister of Defence and Military Veterans.

# Cosatu says government must recapitalise the South African Post Office and the Postbank to give them a fair chance and the necessary liquidity to compete in their sectors. The union federation says it is strongly against the proposed closure of 235 Post Office branches and the pending retrenchments of six-thousand workers. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says management has not only presided over decaying infrastructure, but continuously sought to destroy any possibility of the Post Office’s revival:

# The Johannesburg Metro Police Department is searching for attackers involved in a shooting incident that resulted in a metro officer being injured. JMPD’s spokesperson Xolani Fihla says during a routine patrol around Carlton Centre, officers were informed about a suspicious white Toyota Quantum minibus. He says it was alleged a group of men in the vehicle were reportedly robbing people in the Johannesburg CBD:

# Olympic Games: France is scrambling to prevent the virus-carrying tiger mosquito, a growing menace in Europe, from spoiling the Paris Games, with millions of visitors due in four months’ time. AFP reports the insect has made its home in much of northern Europe, including France, over the past two decades, due to climate change, spreading diseases such as dengue, chikungunya and zika. Authorities have tried in vain to get rid of the insects, including by fumigating parts of Paris, a technique regularly used in tropical cities.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-96-cents and the euro at 20-rand-52-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-92-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-888-dollars-38-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-165-dollars-59-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-42-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Writer Deon Meyer and actress Jana Cilliers are some of the honourees of this year’s Klein Karoo National Arts Festival underway in Oudtshoorn. The festival seeks to recognise artistic contributions across the Afrikaans community, including literature, acting, and visual arts. The DA’s Western Cape Cultural Affairs and Sports spokesperson, Gillion Bosman, says the festival serves as a driving force for economic growth in the region:

Stay tuned for more news………….