News 16:00

BULLETIN 3 October 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The former Steinhoff chief financial official is sentenced to five years for fraud
# The Free Market Foundation calls for the privatisation of failing South African municipalities
# And tennis: Carlos Alcaraz had to rush to Shanghai shortly after winning the China Open

# Former Steinhoff chief financial official Andries la Grange has been sentenced to five years in prison after pleading guilty to fraud. This comes after the multinational holding company collapsed in 2017, which wiped billions of rand off its worth on the Johannesburg Stock Exchange. La Grange was initially charged with multiple offenses, including racketeering and corruption, and was to serve ten-years in prison, but struck a plea deal with the state, leading to his fraud conviction.

# Deputy minister of Water and Sanitation, Sello Seitlholo, says government cannot allow failing municipal water infrastructure to lead to the pollution of water sources to a degree where such sources become unusable. Seitlholo launched the Vaal River Anti-Pollution Forum. He says government cannot allow failing municipal water infrastructure to cripple the country and for the country to work, municipalities must work:

Meanwhile, the Free Market Foundation says privatisation is essential to fix South Africa’s collapsing municipalities. The foundation’s Nicholas Woode-Smith highlights the incompetence, corruption, and infrastructural decay plaguing local governance, with a third of councillors lacking a matric qualification. In addition, only 34 out of 257 municipalities received clean audits in 2022/’23. Woode-Smith argues that privatising municipal services could improve efficiency, as private companies perform well, unlike government-run entities prone to corruption and inefficiency.

# More than 215 people, including 35 children, have been killed and dozens are missing after heavy rains triggered flash floods and landslides across Nepal. Many of the deaths occurred in the heavily populated capital of Kathmandu. Unicef’s Florine Bos says access to essential resources, such as fresh water, will be a challenge in the coming days. She adds that once the floodwaters have receded, there is the threat of water and vector-borne diseases such as dengue:

# Tennis: The gruelling schedule was underlined when Spaniard Carlos Alcaraz had to rush to the airport shortly after being crowned China Open champion in Beijing. He says he didn’t even have time to celebrate his victory over world number one, Jannik Sinner of Italy, before he had to go straight from the stadium to catch a plane to Shanghai where he is playing his first match in the Masters tournament on Saturday. Alcaraz only arrived in the early morning hours. Sinner is also playing in Shanghai.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-48-cents and the euro at 19-rand-30-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-92-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-576-dollars-94-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-647-dollars-17-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-22-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….