News 13:00

BULLETIN 11 June 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Transnet criticises the World Bank’s ranking of South African ports 
# A suspect is arrested for illegally selling coal in Mpumalanga
# And Olympics: Gerda Steyn turns her attention to the Games Marathon after winning the Comrades again

# A World Bank and S&P report ranking four South African ports among the worst globally has been criticised by Transnet Port Terminals and the South African Association of Freight Forwarders. They argue the Container Port Performance Index is flawed and inaccurate. The association’s CEO, Juanita Maree, believes the ports should be ranked higher, and attributed their low rankings to outdated data. According to Transnet factual errors were made. It plans to address these with the World Bank, in view of recent improvements in port performance and equipment procurement.

# Eskom says it will continue to work with law enforcement agencies to ensure that illegal coal yards are shut down. On Saturday, a driver was arrested for allegedly selling coal that was loaded at a mine in eMakhazeni and was destined for Arnot power station in Mpumalanga. He sold it for six-thousand-rand. Eskom’s Aubrey Sambo says the delivery of poor-quality coal often leads to unit breakdowns and this cannot be tolerated:

# The Border Management Authority has dismissed reports claiming that a transition to a biometric system at OR Tambo International Airport in Gauteng is causing delays for all international departures and arrivals. The authority’s spokesperson, Mmemme Mogotsi, says the current processing systems at its Immigration Services are fully operational and designed to handle the high volume of traffic efficiently. She adds the false reports have caused unnecessary concern among travellers and stakeholders:

# Italy, as G7 leader, is urged to ensure member states fulfil their climate finance promises to African nations. This is according to former Malawian president Joyce Banda. Last year, Cyclone Freddy claimed over one-thousand lives, displaced more than 650-thousand Malawians, destroyed the crops of two million farmers, and killed almost 1.5 million livestock. Banda says a G7 deal must begin with the payment of pledges to help countries like Malawi rebuild from climate disasters.

# Olympics: South African long-distance runner Gerda Steyn is turning her attention to the Games in Paris after successfully defending her Comrades Marathon title in a new record time on Sunday. This followed her victory in the Two Oceans in April. Steyn expects a tough race in the Olympics marathon on the tenth of August. Her best time over the distance of 42.195-kilometres is two hours-24 minutes while defending Olympic champion Peres Jepshirchir of Kenya recently set a new world record of two-hours-16-minutes-16 seconds.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-70-cents and the euro at 20-rand-11-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-380-dollars-66-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-304-dollars-89-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….