News 15:00

BULLETIN 20 March 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government is engaging with Johannesburg over Sandton Drive’s renaming amid diplomatic sensitivities
# ActionSA says local government is in a state of crisis
# And motorsport: Formula One gained 90-million fans last year

# Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has confirmed that government is engaging with the City of Johannesburg over the proposed renaming of Sandton Drive to Palestinian politician Leila Khaled, due to diplomatic sensitivities. This comes as the US has expressed concerns about the name change. Briefing the media, Magwenya said the process must follow legal procedures and public consultations while managing international relations carefully:

# ActionSA says the government of national unity is not serious about funding local government, where the greatest crises are facing citizens daily. Excluding grant allocations from the national government, in 2024/25 local government received 4.7-percent of total funding, whilst the amount this year has decreased slightly to 4.6-percent. ActionSA’s national chairperson, Michael Beaumont, says the causes of local government failure extend beyond the issue of funding and include poor leadership, bad governance, and corruption:

# Four people were shot and killed and three injured when a group of armed men started shooting at a taxi rank in the Johannesburg CBD today. One of the injured is a university student who was waiting for a bus. Police spokesperson Dimakatso Nevhuhulwi says a similar incident took place at Zonkizizwe taxi rank yesterday, leaving three people dead, sparking taxi violence concerns:

# Motorsport: Formula One gained almost 90-million fans last year, mainly in China when the Grand Prix returned to Shanghai for the first  time since the Covid-19 pandemic. Data released by Nielson Sports reveal 826.5-million people watched the sport at racecourses or online last year, which is 12-percent more than in 2023. This includes an increase of 39-percent in China. During last week’s first Grand Prix of the season in Melbourne, Australia, a record of over 465-thousand spectators attended. The showpiece moves to Shanghai this weekend.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-19-cents and the euro at 19-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-57-cents and Bitcoin trades at 85-thousand-226-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-32-dollars-87-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Google South Africa has launched its first-ever cloud region in Johannesburg, investing 2.5-billion-rand. The new cloud region seeks to connect South Africa to Google Cloud’s global network, boosting access to top-tier services for local businesses. This move is expected to add almost 40-billion-rand to the country’s gross domestic product and create over 40-thousand jobs by 2030. Google says it is also supporting African startups through initiatives like the Black Founders Fund and Google for Startups Accelerator, helping raise 4.7-billion-rand and creating over two-thousand-800 jobs across Africa.

Stay tuned for more news………….