News 15:00

BULLETIN NEWS AGENCY 3 September 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa’s economy grew by 0.4-percent in the second quarter of 2024
# The Justice minister will appear before a parliamentary committee over the VBS allegations
# And, tennis: A Kazakh player apologises to a US Open ball girl after an awkward exchange

# South Africa’s economy grew by 0.4-percent in the second quarter, following no growth in the first quarter. The finance, real estate and business services industry increased by 1.3-percent, followed by the trade, catering and accommodation industry that increased by 1.2-percent. The manufacturing industry increased by 1.1-percent and the electricity, gas and water industry grew by 3.1-percent. This was largely due to increases in electricity production and consumption, as well as water consumption. The transport, storage and communication industry as well as the agriculture, forestry and fishing industry decreased by more than 2-percent.

# Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Thembi Simelane, is expected to appear before Parliament’s portfolio committee on Justice and Constitutional Development on Friday. This follows reports that she allegedly received at least 500-thousand-rand in a loan from an individual intimately linked to VBS bank while she was the mayor of Polokwane in Limpopo. The committee’s chairperson, Xola Nqola, says these types of allegations are damaging to the image that South Africa is trying to portray as a country ridding itself of any form of corruption.

# The Pretoria Specialised Commercial Crimes Court sentenced a 37-year-old former finance manager of a sports club to ten years direct imprisonment for 63 counts of fraud that resulted in losses exceeding three-million-rand. Prishne Khan defrauded the Northern Cricket Union from June 2015 to January 2017, while she worked as a bookkeeper. National Prosecuting Authority regional spokesperson Lumka Mahanjana says Khan’s responsibilities included processing payments for service providers:

# The DA Abroad is advocating for an automatic and cost-free restoration of South African citizenship. This follows a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that affirmed South Africans who lost their citizenship by acquiring another nationality should retain it. The party is also seeking clarity on delays and the number of affected citizens. The DA’s Ludre Stevens is urging swift implementation of this ruling while awaiting final ratification from the Constitutional Court: 

# Tennis: Yulia Putintseva of Kazakhstan apologised to a ball girl at the US Open over an awkward exchange between them during her third-round loss to Italian Jasmine Paolini. She ignored three balls the girl tossed towards her ahead of her next serve, leading to the crowd booing the player. Putintseva explained she was frustrated for not being able to convert two break points in the second set. She says it wasn’t about the girl, but she wasn’t focusing on what was going on.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-97-cents and the euro at 19-rand-83-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-57-cents and Bitcoin trades at 59-thousand-32-dollars-93-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-499-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-53-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….