News 13:00

BULLETIN 4 September 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA says the Gauteng government has failed the Marshalltown fire victims
# The Referendum Party says the South African Post Office is no longer fit for purpose
# And, rugby: The opening round of the local URC derbies have been rescheduled

# The DA in Gauteng says the bodies of the victims of the Marshalltown fire that occurred a year ago are still at state mortuaries due to the City of Johannesburg’s inept handling of the disaster. Seventy-six people died and scores were injured when the five-storey Usindiso building caught fire in August last year. The DA’s Mervyn Cirota says some survivors are still detained at the Lindela Repatriation Centre in Krugersdorp, awaiting deportation:

# The Referendum Party says the South African Post Office is no longer fit for purpose and therefore government should not spend nearly four-billion-rand to bail it out. Between June 2023 and June this year, the state-owned entity used a 2.4-billion-rand injection to settle its debts and financial obligations to creditors, as well as to pay other settlements and retrenchment costs. Referendum Party leader Phil Craig says the Post Office must instead be sold:

# The Azanian People’s Organisation is calling for the scrapping of provincial governments, saying provinces are nothing but glorified and sanitised Bantustans of old. Spokesperson Jabu Rakwena says all the human resources and scarce skills saturated in provincial government must be made available to municipalities. He says the level of deterioration in governance and responsive management of resources tells a sad tale of incompetence and lack of diligence:

# British police are questioning five young children in connection with the murder of an elderly man in a park in Leicestershire. Eighty-year-old Bhim Sen Kohli was seriously assaulted while walking his dog on Sunday, and died in hospital later. Three girls and two boys, all between 12- and 14-years-old, have been arrested. Kohli’s daughter says she found her father lying outside their house. He sustained spinal injuries, and died before an operation could be performed. Police spokesperson Emma Matts asked for eyewitnesses to come forward.

# Rugby: The opening fixtures of the United Rugby Championship involving the South African teams have been rescheduled to February and March next year. This is to avoid a clash with the Currie Cup final. Originally, the Stormers were due to take on the Bulls in Cape Town and the Sharks were to host the Lions in Durban on Saturday the 21st of this month. The URC says it’s working with SA Rugby to confirm the exact dates of the rescheduled fixtures.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-96-cents and the euro at 19-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-56-cents and Bitcoin trades at 56-thousand-688-dollars-7-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-474-dollars-13-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….