News 13:00

NEWSFLASH NEWS AGENCY 13 November 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Mthunzi Mdwaba will not apologise to ministers but stands by his statement
# A labour analyst says government has done little to help with job creation
# And Cricket: Only six World Cup squad members are retained for the Windies tour

# Thuja Capital CEO Mthunzi Mdwaba has refused to apologise for exposing top ANC leaders in the Unemployment Insurance Fund scandal. Mdwaba alleges that ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula, Finance minister Enoch Godongwana, Employment and Labour minister Thulas Nxesi, and Higher Education minister Blade Nzimande demanded 500-million-rand for a five-billion-rand tender deal with the UIF. In an interview with eNCA, Mdwaba said he has cancelled all government contracts after being asked to pay bribes:

Play sound: ENG-MdwabaOnUIF

# Labour analyst Michael Bagraim says he is not expecting major changes to the country’s unemployment crisis anytime soon. Statistics South Africa will release the Quarterly Labour Force Survey results for the third quarter of this year in Pretoria tomorrow. The household-based sample survey measures the labour market activities of individuals aged 15 to 64 years old. Bagraim has told eNCA that government has not done enough to help with the creation of jobs:

Play sound: ENG-BagraimOnSurvey

# Africa Unite is calling for the protection and integration of foreign nationals in South Africa following the fatal shooting of two Somali nationals in Philippi, Cape Town last week. The organisation’s Lelethu Nogwavu says they condemned the targeting of foreign nationals, particularly small business owners. Africa Unite has also expressed concern about government’s proposal to audit foreign-owned spaza shops. This is after several incidents of children dying from consuming food items allegedly bought from street vendors and spaza shops. Nogwavu says if this is specifically targeting foreign nationals, it breeds xenophobia.

# Cricket: Only six players of England’s World Cup squad will represent the country in next month’s one-day series against the Windies in the Caribbean. Jos Buttler retained the captaincy despite the defending champion failing to reach the semifinals. Joe Root, Jonny Bairstow and Mark Wood get rested before the start of the Test series in India in January, while Test captain Ben Stokes is undergoing an operation on a longstanding knee injury. The three-match ODI series against the Windies will be followed by five T20s.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-69-cents and the euro at 19-rand-99-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-89-cents and Bitcoin trades at 37-thousand-10-dollars-2-cents. Gold sells at one-thousand-937-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-22-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Department of Forestry, Fisheries and the Environment, together with the Sustainable Finance Coalition, has developed Biodiversity Management Agreements. The agreements were developed in consultation with the Wilderness Foundation Africa and will be implemented by three private rhino and lion owners in Limpopo. These are the first Biodiversity Management Agreements to be developed and implemented in South Africa. The department says in terms of the agreements, the landowners amongst other things, have undertaken to comply with all legal obligations relating to the management of lions and rhinos, as appropriate.

Stay tuned for more news………….