News 16:00

BULLETIN 20 February 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# General dealers and clothing retailers drove growth in the December retail trade sales
# AfriForum seeks clarity on Eskom’s solar registration rules
# And the first pharaoh’s tomb since Tutankhamun’s is found in Egypt

# Statistics South Africa says retail trade sales grew 3.1-percent year-on-year in December. It was driven mainly by clothing, footwear, and leather goods retailers, which saw a 7.8-percent increase, and general dealers, who contributed two-percent growth. Stats SA’s Juan-Pierre Terblanche says the fourth quarter of 2024 also showed a 5.4-percent increase compared to the same period in 2023: 

# AfriForum has written to Eskom demanding clarity on the mandatory registration of Small-Scale Embedded Generators up to 50-kilowatt. The civil rights group argues that recent announcements on registration fees and penalties have left solar users uncertain. AfriForum wants Eskom to provide legal references for these enforcement measures and justify potential fines. The organisation warns that unclear policies could discourage solar adoption, affecting South Africa’s energy future.

# The City of Cape Town is urging minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, to implement an open skies policy, in a bid to unlock economic growth, tourism, and trade opportunities. Cape Town International Airport has exceeded its 2024 passenger target by 125-percent. Mayoral committee member for Economic Growth, James Vos, says an open skies policy will remove restrictions on air routes, capacity, pricing, and market access, enabling airlines to operate more freely and competitively:

# Tennis: Seven-time Grand Slam champion, Venus Williams from America, and two-time Wimbledon winner, Petra Kvitova from the Czech Republic, have been awarded wildcards for next month’s Indian Wells Open in the US. Forty-four-year-old Williams, who had been hit with injuries, has not played since losing in the first round of the Miami Open last March. Kvitova is returning from maternity leave after the birth of her first child in July last year. Williams has reached the Indian Wells semifinals three times, while Kvitova is a three-time quarterfinalist.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-43-cents and the euro at 19-rand-24-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-25-cents and Bitcoin trades at 97-thousand-407-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-947-dollars-91-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Egyptologists have discovered the first tomb of a pharaoh since Tutankhamun’s was uncovered over a century ago. King Thutmose II’s tomb was the last undiscovered royal tomb of the 18th Egyptian dynasty. It is located in the Western Valleys of the Theban Necropolis near the city of Luxor. Thutmose was an ancestor of Tutankhamun, whose reign is believed to have been from about 1493 to 1479 BC. He was the husband of Queen Hatshepsut, regarded as one of Egypt’s greatest pharaohs and one of the few female rulers.

Stay tuned for more news………….