News 13:00

BULLETIN 8 April 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Canal-Ploes launches a mandatory takeover offer for MultiChoice
# Nehawu calls for NSFAS to terminate contracts of service providers
# And, soccer: Banyana wants to turn around the deficit against the Super Falcons 

# French media conglomerate Canal+ (Canal Ploes) has initiated a mandatory takeover bid for MultiChoice, offering 125-rand per share which is a significant increase from its previous offer. Africa’s largest pay-TV operator has engaged Standard Bank as an independent expert to assess the offer. Canal+ aims to strengthen its presence in Africa, emphasizing the importance of scale to compete with global players like Disney and Netflix. Canal+’s parent company, Vivendi (Wiewendie), is exploring a split into separate entities, potentially offering South African investors an opportunity to participate.

# Union Nehawu says it won’t stand idle whilst the National Student Financial Aid Scheme continues to lurch from one crisis to another due to poor governance. This comes as the NSFAS board has decided to continue working with irregularly appointed financial service providers for direct payment of students’ allowances. Nehawu’s spokesperson, Lwazi Nkolonzi, says this is despite the Werksmans report’s findings that the four service providers were appointed irregularly:

# The DA in Gauteng has criticised the Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation for wasting more than 13-million-rand on gala events, while much-needed sporting facilities have been left to fall apart. The party’s Kingsol Chabalala says the department has failed to provide full details at the provincial legislature on what services were rendered to it. He says this has set the department back 5.8-million-rand during the 2021/22 financial year, and 7.8-million-rand for 2022/23:

# Soccer: Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis is optimistic as they prepare for the second leg encounter against Nigeria’s Super Falcons at Loftus Versveld tomorrow. Despite a 1-0 loss in the first leg, Ellis believes the team can turn the tables, citing home advantage. She is sure Banyana can still qualify for the Olympics, joining Spain, Brazil and Japan in Group C:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-62-cents and the euro at 20-rand-15-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-50-cents and Bitcoin trades at 70-thousand-745-dollars-58-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-335-dollars-82-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Transplant Education for Living Legacies is organising an awareness and tattoo day in Pretoria this month to promote organ donation. Attendees can participate in a competition to win a tattoo, reflecting the growing trend of people committing to saving lives. Around three-thousand people have already permanently inked their intention to be organ donors, showing strong support for this cause.

Stay tuned for more news………….