News 15:00

BULLETIN 15 April 3 pm

Good morning/afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ace Magashule expresses his confidence as the asbestos case against him is postponed
# Foreign investors disinvested more than one-trillion-rand over the past decade

# And tennis: Stefanos Tsitsipas and Casper Ruud are the big movers in the world rankings after reaching the Monte Carlo final 

# The 255-million-rand asbestos roof removal trial in the High Court in the Free State, involving former ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule, has been postponed to 14 June. Magashule, along with businessman Edwin Sodi and 16 others, faces charges of fraud, corruption, money laundering, and contravention of the Public Finance Management Act. Speaking to the media, Magashule maintained his innocence, stating he has never taken state funds:

# Over one-trillion-rand has been disinvested from South African equities and bonds in the past decade. Old Mutual chair and ex-finance minister Trevor Manuel attributes this to declining confidence amid governmental crises. Manuel says that investors seek regulatory stability. He emphasises policy clarity and collaboration across sectors for investment trust revival. Manuel says despite effort to restore the institutions and rebuild the economy, more work is necessary to eradicate corruption and regain institutional strength. He called for the balancing of fiscal needs with clear, long-term regulations.

# Repairs to the undersea communications cables, which caused internet disruptions in multiple African nations, including South Africa, will take at least another month. Eight West African countries as well as South Africa were impacted by damage to four subsea cables, possibly due to seabed shifting. Affected consumers have since been rerouted to Google’s Equiano cable. Repair efforts have begun with the dispatch of a repair ship. Customers using Telkom, Vumatel, Vodacom, and Mweb are among the affected in South Africa.

# Iran has called on Western nations to appreciate its restraint towards Israel after it attacked its regional foe in response to a deadly strike on the Iranian consulate in Damascus, Syria. Iranian Foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani says instead of making accusations against Iran, countries should blame themselves and answer to public opinion for the measures they have taken against the war crimes committed by Israel in Gaza. Meanwhile, Germany’s Chancellor Olaf Scholz has urged restraint by Israel after it successfully repelled Iran’s unprecedented drone and missile attack.

# Tennis: Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece and Norway’s Casper Ruud made big strides in the world rankings after reaching the final of the Monte Carlo Masters. Champion Tsitsipas improved five positions to seventh, and Ruud four positions to sixth. Novak Djokovic of Serbia and Italian Jannik Sinner are still in the top two positions, with Carlos Alcaraz of Spain still third, followed by Russian Daniil Medvedev and German Alexander Zverev. Tsitsipas praised Ruud after beating him in straight sets:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-92-cents and the euro at 20-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-63-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-58-dollars-41-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-259-dollars-58-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-74-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….