News 13:00

BULLETIN 12 March 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The PSA calls for fairness over the dismissal of more than 50 Border Management Authority officials
# Tennis: Defending champion Jack Draper beats Djokovic at Indian Wells
# And UK wildlife will replace historical figures like Churchill and Shakespeare on banknotes

# The Public Servants Association says while it notes the dismissal of over 50 Border Management Authority officials, anti-corruption initiatives must always be implemented in accordance with the principles of fairness. The officials were found to be involved in corruption at ports of entry across South Africa. A further 38 immigration officials are currently under investigation. PSA’s Claude Naicker says all affected employees must be given a fair opportunity to be heard:

# The Agricultural Business Chamber of South Africa’s chief economist, Wandile Sihlobo, says the Agribusiness Confidence Index has dropped by 18 points to 49 in the first quarter of this year, the lowest level since the third quarter of 2024. Sihlobo says foot-and-mouth disease, African swine fever and declining global prices for sugar and wheat remain major concerns. He adds the Middle Eastern conflict is raising fears over rising energy and fertiliser costs, contributing to a more pessimistic outlook among agribusinesses nationwide.

# The City of Johannesburg is investigating a sulphur-like odour reported by residents in some parts of Sandton, Randburg, Roodepoort, and Fourways since January. Monitoring data confirmed elevated levels of hydrogen sulphide at the Buccleuch and Alexandra monitoring stations. Spokesperson Nthatisi Modingoane says the Environment and Infrastructure Services Department’s Air Quality Management Unit will continue working with other spheres of government to identify the source of the odour:

# Tennis: Defending champion Jack Draper eliminated world number three, Novak Djokovic, in the round of 16 of the Indian Wells Masters in the US. The 14th-seeded Briton had to work hard to defeat the 38-year-old Serbian in a final set tiebreak, denying Djokovic a place in the quarterfinals for the first time since winning the tournament for the fifth and last time in 2016. Draper will now face 11th-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev. World number two, Jannik Sinner of Italy, faces local player Learner Tien in the quarterfinals.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-57-cents and the euro at 19-rand-13-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-651-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-174-dollars-52-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 95-dollars-85-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Historical figures like William Shakespeare and Winston Churchill will be replaced by images of British wildlife on the next series of Bank of England banknotes. It marks a shift from more than 50 years of showcasing historical people, including Alan Turing and Jane Austen. King Charles’ portrait will continue to appear on the next series of notes. The move follows a consultation last summer in which the UK wildlife theme received the highest proportion of nominations. A second consultation will run later this year to collect views on the specific wildlife the notes should feature.

Stay tuned for more news………….