News 13:00

BULLETIN 23 September 1pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# SARS holds a memorial service for former minister Pravin Gordhan
# The Activists and Citizens Forum says corruption is worse under Ramaphosa than it was under Zuma
# And Cycling: SA’s Candice Lill wins bronze in the Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships

# The South African Revenue Service is holding a memorial service today for former minister Pravin Gordhan, who passed away after a battle with cancer. Gordhan, a former SARS Commissioner from 1999 to 2009, has been lauded for his leadership and vision, laying the foundation for a modern tax and customs administration. Former minister of Finance, Trevor Manuel, praised Gordhan for his contribution:

# The Activists and Citizens Forum says corruption in South Africa is worse under president Cyril Ramaphosa than it was under former president Jacob Zuma’s administration. It highlighted serious corruption allegations at the Gauteng Legislature. Then speaker Ntombi Mekgwe and other senior ANC officials allegedly halted disciplinary processes into allegations of fraud and wasteful expenditure involving 32 employees and two members of the legislature. The forum’s Dennis Bloem says corruption is an ANC cancer, and it is not a Zuma problem:

# Today is International Day of Sign Languages, an opportunity to support and protect the linguistic identity and cultural diversity of all deaf people and other sign language users. This year’s theme is Sign up for Sign Language Rights. According to the World Federation of the Deaf, there are more than 70 million deaf people worldwide, and more than 80-percent of them live in developing countries. Collectively, they use more than 300 different sign languages. On this day people are urged to learn sign language and increase awareness.

# Cycling: South Africa’s Candice Lill won the bronze medal at the UCI Mountain Bike Marathon World Championships in Snowshoe, USA. She finished 69-seconds behind the winner Mona Mitterwallner from Austria with Switzerland’s Sina Frei finishing second. Lill finished second last year behind Mitterwallner. Forty-five women participated in the gruelling championship spanning 100 kilometres. The men’s section was won by Denmark’s Simon Andreassen.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-39-cents and the euro at 19-rand-30-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-9-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-528-dollars-57-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-616-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-27-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A rare painting from René Magritte’s famous L’empire des lumières series is estimated to sell for more than one-billion-rand at Christie’s New York auction in November. It is one of the 27 paintings in which Magritte explored light by painting a sunlit sky above a darkened street scene. If the painting, which comes from the estate of the late interior designer Mica Ertegun, sells at the estimated price, it will break Magritte’s auction record.

Stay tuned for more news………….