News 15:00

BULLETIN 3 June 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The AA predicts significant fuel price decreases this month
# The DA urges the Eastern Cape to declare a state of disaster after the floods
# And golf: Ernie Els wins at the Champions Tour in the US

# The Automobile Association is forecasting significant fuel price decreases this month, providing relief after steady increases since February. Unaudited data indicates a decrease of around one-rand-six-cents-per-litre for 95 and 93 unleaded petrol, one-rand-per-litre for diesel, and 80-cents-per-litre for illuminating paraffin. The AA says this is driven by lower international product prices, aided by a stronger rand-US dollar exchange rate in May. The AA has reiterated calls for a review of the fuel pricing mechanism to permanently mitigate rising costs.

# The DA has called for the new Eastern Cape provincial government which will be led by the ANC, to declare a state of disaster following extensive flooding. Seven people have died, thousands have been displaced, and critical infrastructure has been severely damaged. DA provincial leader Andrew Whitfield has requested immediate action from premier Oscar Mabuyane, emphasising the urgent need for a coordinated response and effective communication to aid those affected:

# Markets are currently in favour of a DA-ANC coalition, which analysts believe would boost investor confidence. The ANC managed to win only 40.19-percent of votes in the elections, and political economist Azar Jammine sees it as the end of the ANC’s dominance. With the ANC open to coalition talks with anyone, including the DA, he believes the markets could be impacted positively, but an ANC-MK-EFF coalition is seen negatively:

# There is reportedly uncertainty among some Western Cape teachers in contractual posts about their job security, after some contracts were reportedly renewed while others were not. The Western Cape government says schools were allowed to extend certain contracts till the end of December. Two-thousand-282 contracts have been extended and three-thousand-100 contract posts converted to permanent. The department says in cases where teachers did not have their contracts converted or extended, is due to either them not qualifying for a permanent post, or the school not following the relevant processes.

# Golf: South African legend Ernie Els won the Principal Charity Classic In Iowa for his fourth career PGA Champions Tour victory. He closed with a 7-under 65 at Wakonda Club to beat defending champion Stephen Ames by two strokes. This is his first victory since March last year. Els says the victory was very special as he hasn’t won for a while. Bernard Langer tied for third in his fourth start since returning from an Achilles injury. The 66-year-old German star is the PGA Champions tour career victory leader with 46.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 20-rand-25-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-73-dollars-94-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-331-dollars-21-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-18-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….