News 14:00

BULLETIN 14 January 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Retail giants are told to play fair with fresh produce while price wars continue
# Cosatu is aggrieved by employers who toy with their workers’ financial futures
# And Tennis: Volatile Daniil Medevedev survives five sets after a temper tantrum

# The Competition Commission has ordered major retailers, including Shoprite, Woolworths, Pick n Pay, Spar, and Food Lover’s Market, to price fresh produce per 100 grams. This change will help consumers compare prices more easily. This decision follows an investigation into the fresh produce market, which found current pricing practices distort competition. The inquiry also uncovered inefficiencies in the 53-billion-rand fresh produce market, including monopolies and barriers for small farmers. Retailers have 12 months to make the changes.

# Cosatu says it is concerned by the massive number of employers who toy with workers’ financial futures by defaulting on paying pension fund contributions. According to the Financial Sector Conduct Authority, the number of employers defaulting on paying over workers pension fund contributions has doubled to seven-thousand-700 from four-thousand. Cosatu’s, Zanele Sabela, says they are committed to ensuring these unscrupulous employers settle arrears and become compliant going forward:

# University of Pretoria professor Kobus Maree says while going to university is one of many trajectories to career-life success, parents and guardians should not be set on a particular tertiary institution or post-Grade 12 education and training level. He says while research shows that those with degrees find employment more easily and earn higher salaries, parents and guardians must not underestimate the value of non-university study. Maree says judge each discipline and tertiary training institution on merit:

# South Africa’s passport has climbed five places on the 2025 Henley Passport Index, returning to the top 50 for the first time since 2014. This reflects improved mobility despite losing visa-free access to Ireland, reducing the total accessible destinations. The Henley Passport Index, based on 19-years of data from the International Air Transport Authority, evaluates 199 passports and 227 destinations monthly. While European Union nations also faced setbacks, Singapore and Japan lead the rankings with visa-free access to 195 and 193 countries, respectively.

# Tennis: Russian Daniil Medvedev mangled his racquet in an epic temper tantrum before battling through a five-set roller coaster to stay alive at the Australian Open. Medvedev lost his cool in the third set before rallying to beat Thailand’s Kasidit Samrej, 6-2, 4-6, 3-6, 6-1, 6-2. Fifth seed Medvedev was 3-5 behind and on the brink of going two sets to one down against a player ranked 418 in the world when he exploded, slamming his racquet into the net camera repeatedly until they both became a broken mess.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-97-cents and the euro at 19-rand-46-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-11-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-883-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-665-dollars-60-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-85-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….