News 15:00

BULLETIN 29 August 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The approval of an M-pox test is fast-traced
# July sees higher business failures driven by close corporations
# And soccer: José Mourinho leaves Fenerbahce after just 14 months

# The South African Health Products Regulatory Authority has approved the Cobas MPXV test for M-pox after a fast nine-day review using the African medicines regulatory harmonisation process. The approval, which also relied on the World Health Organisation’s emergency use listing, expands South Africa’s diagnostic capacity for early detection, timely treatment, and the prevention of the virus from spreading. SAHPRA spokesperson Yuven Gounden says the process marks a milestone in regional and continental regulatory harmonisation for medical devices.

# Statistics South Africa reports a sharp rise in business liquidations, with July seeing a 16.5-percent increase compared to the same month last year. Of the 155 liquidations recorded, 72 were companies and 83 were close corporations, including 14 compulsory and 141 voluntary closures. Stats SA’s Onica Mushwana says over the first seven months of this year, liquidations rose by 1.8-percent compared to the same period last year:

# The DA in Gauteng says the rapid collapse in Rand Water’s system storage is being made worse by the failure of municipalities to complete vital water resilience infrastructure. The water utility’s system storage has fallen from around 55-percent to just below 40-percent in under a week. The DA’s Stephen Moore says if this is the state of the system now, Gauteng faces a catastrophic summer of water insecurity:

# Soccer: Fenerbahçe has sacked one of the world’s most decorated managers, José Mourinho, after just two league games this season. This follows after the Turkish club was eliminated from the Champions League on Wednesday when they lost to Benfica in a qualifier. The Portuguese, who coached giants like Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Chelsea and Inter Milan earlier, joined the club in June last year. They finished second behind Galatasaray in last season’s Süper Lig.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-75-cents and the euro at 20-rand-70-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-89-cents and Bitcoin trades at 110-thousand-37-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-407-dollars-24-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Five years ago today, ActionSA was launched during a live studio broadcast from Auckland Park. President Herman Mashaba says the party was born out of the People’s Dialogue, an online engagement with South Africans in response to a public call for a new party grounded in principle and shared values. He says their parliamentary team has already introduced bold legislation, with further proposals in the pipeline. These include constitutional amendments to abolish deputy ministers and strengthen accountability, and cut the rampant waste of ministerial expenditure.

Stay tuned for more news………….