News 13:00

BULLETIN 12 March 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Absa’s interim CEO warns South Africa to ease tensions with the US
# Gauteng’s delayed budget sparks outrage
# And the DA says it strongly opposes Cricket SA’s rigid racial quotas

# Absa interim CEO, Charles Russon, says government must do everything possible to de-escalate tensions with the US. President Donald Trump has signed an executive order cutting aid to South Africa over the country’s expropriation policies and the treatment of Afrikaners. Recently, US banking giant JP Morgan downgraded the country’s equities, citing uncertainty over diplomatic ties and economic reforms. Russon says the markets and the investment community don’t like uncertainty. He adds that mending relations with the US at present won’t be easy.

# The DA has slammed the Gauteng legislature for passing its adjustment budget four months late and with most funds already spent. The DA’s Ruhan Robinson has called it a spend-first-plan-later approach under the ANC-led coalition. He raises concerns including 4.3-billion-rand in health overspending and 3.8-billion-rand wasted on the failed e-Toll system. Robinson says these adjustments are just legal formalities rather than proper financial oversight.

# Pam Golding Properties has confirmed a cyber incident resulting in unauthorised access to client data on its Customer Relationship Management system. The real estate company says the breach that happened last week did not compromise financial or banking details as immediate security measures were taken, and the matter was reported to authorities. Clients have been notified and advised to remain vigilant against potential fraud. Independent cybersecurity specialists have been appointed to investigate and strengthen security protocols to prevent future incidents.

# The National Council of SPCAs has confirmed severe cost-containment measures implemented by the Department of Correctional Services. This directly affects the feeding of animals kept at the country’s 21 agricultural correctional centres. SPCA spokesperson, Jacques Peacock, says these animals, including pigs, dairy cattle, poultry, equine used in mounted units, and dogs in the department’s canine units, are now facing critical food shortages:

# On to sports news: The DA says it opposes Cricket South Africa’s rigid enforcement of transformation quotas, which have resulted in the Warriors being stripped of their playoff opportunity. The team was disqualified from the One-Day Cup playoffs for failing to meet CSA’s quota requirements. They failed to field three black African players in a game last month and did not inform the authorities. The DA’s Liam Jacobs says true transformation is giving opportunities to all aspiring players, regardless of race:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-34-cents and the euro at 20-rand-4-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-297-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-919-dollars-88-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-61-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….