News 14:00

BULLETIN 5 March 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A cruise liner collides with a container ship in the Cape Town harbour
# Tobacco manufacturers will challenge SARS over the new surveillance rule
# And, motorsport: Wolff is mum over rumours Vettel might replace Hamilton at Mercedes

# A cruise liner, Ambassador Cruise Line’s Ambience, collided with a container ship, Grey Fox, in Cape Town’s harbour this morning. The incident occurred during Ambience’s scheduled visit. Strong winds and waves have been reported as likely contributors to the collision. Both ships sustained minor damage, with no reported injuries or pollution. Ambience is safely docked and is expected to depart with one-thousand-400 passengers tonight. The cause of the accident is under investigation.

# Tobacco manufacturers are challenging the South African Revenue Service in court over new rules requiring CCTV surveillance in warehouses to curb tax leakage. The Fair-Trade Independent Tobacco Association argues the rule violates privacy rights and is arbitrary, seeking its review and cancellation. SARS defends the rule as necessary to combat illicit tobacco trade, while FITA proposes alternative technologies for compliance. The court case is scheduled for April 15.

# The Botswana government has established a disaster fund to assist families impacted by mass casualty incidents. This comes after 45 people died when the bus they were travelling in plunged off a bridge into a ravine between Mokopane and Marken in Limpopo. The bus was transporting people from Botswana to an Easter pilgrimage in Moria near Polokwane. Botswana president Mokgweetsi Masisi pledges government assistance to ensure affected families receive the necessary support:

# Motorsport: Mercedes’s Formula One team CEO says Sebastian Vettel can never be discounted. Toto Wolff reacted to rumours the German might replace Lewis Hamilton when the British driver swops Mercedes for Ferrari at the end of the season. Vettel won four consecutive championships for Red Bull, and also raced for Ferrari and Aston Martin before retiring in 2022. Wolff and Vettel held talks earlier this week. Wolff stresses his team hasn’t chosen Hamilton’s successor yet:

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-61-cents and the euro at 20-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-52-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-864-dollars-3-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-293-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-96-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….