News 13:00

BULLETIN 5 March 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Business rescue is underway at the South African Post Office
# The EFF in Tshwane wants the report on the deputy mayor’s alleged financial misconduct released

# And, motorsport: Wolff is mum on rumours Vettel might replace Hamilton

# The Department of Communications and Digital Technologies has revealed the ongoing business rescue process at the South African Post Office will lead to the preservation of just over 600 branches. Minister Mondli Gungubele indicated the closure of 235 Post Offices countrywide. Four-thousand-700 retrenchment letters have been dispatched to employees as business rescue practitioners request additional government funding for retrenchment packages. Gungubele expresses confidence in the rescue efforts:

# The EFF in Tshwane has requested the council’s speaker and the city manager to release the report on deputy mayor, Nasiphi Moya. She was investigated for her alleged financial misconduct. During her previous tenure as chief of staff in the mayor’s office in 2020, Moya did not make it to a city-funded international trip and did not return the travel allowance she was paid. The EFF says the deputy mayor’s responsibilities, which include overseeing capital projects, make it essential for her to demonstrate integrity and accountability.

# Minister of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development, Thoko Didiza, is set to meet leaders of organised agriculture, relevant departments, and MECs from all provinces, to assess the severity of the El Nino-induced drought. The Crop Estimates Committee recently predicted South Africa’s 2023/24 summer grains and oilseed production could fall by 21-percent year-on-year to 15.2-million tonnes. The department’s spokesperson, Reggie Ngcobo, says the minister will also asses the impact on crop yields and the financial status of farmers:

# Motorsport: Mercedes’s Formula One team CEO says Sebastian Vettel can never be discounted. Toto Wolff reacted to rumours the German might replace Lewis Hamilton when the British driver swops Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the season. Vettel won four consecutive championships for Red Bull, and also raced for Ferrari and Aston Martin before retiring in 2022. Wolff and Vettel held talks earlier this week. Wolff says the German has a phenomenal track record, but stresses his team hasn’t chosen Hamilton’s successor yet:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-63-cents and the euro at 20-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-55-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-816-dollars-56-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-288-dollars-36-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

# And, the City of Cape Town’s Fire and Rescue Service has donated 45-thousand-rand to the Red Cross Children’s Hospital. The money will go towards the hospital’s burns service. Burns are the third leading cause of injury-related deaths in children. The specialised burns ward admits 800 to one-thousand children every year. Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says firefighters are not only willing to put their lives on the line, but their passion goes beyond the job.

Stay tuned for more news………….