News 16:00

BULLETIN 17 December 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Macpherson requests the support of Western Cape police in the Redcliffe Temple investigation
# Stats SA says consumer inflation eased to 3.5-percent in November
# And soccer: FIFA announces a new cut-price ticket category for the World Cup

# Public Works and Infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has asked minister of Police Firoz Kachalia to facilitate interprovincial cooperation in the Redcliffe temple collapse investigation in eThekwini, KwaZulu-Natal, which left five people dead and six injured. He requested the Western Cape police team, experienced from the George building collapse, to assist. Macpherson says this will strengthen technical capacity, ensuring accountability, justice for affected families, and preventing future structural failures:

# ActionSA calls on the National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, to act decisively in the Lily Mine tragedy in Mpumalanga. Three workers were buried alive nearly a decade ago. ActionSA’s Thoko Mashiane says the families are still waiting for accountability. She says ignoring a court order and failing to prosecute undermines the rule of law and leaves victims’ families without justice or closure:

# Statistics South Africa announced consumer inflation slowed slightly last month, with annual inflation easing to 3.5 percent from 3.6 percent in October. On a monthly basis, prices declined by 0.1-percent. Inflation cooled in several categories, especially transport, recreation, and communication, helped by lower fuel and vehicle prices. Stats SA’s Patrick Kelly says transport inflation dropped to 0.7-percent, with used vehicle prices now lower than a year ago:

# Performance expert Ashwin Raja warns failing to manage staff mental wellbeing during retail’s peak festive season will affect productivity and revenue. South Africa is entering the busiest trading period, meaning retail hours extend, and workloads increase. Raja emphasises employee performance is directly linked to mental health and stress and that neglecting well-being now could result in absenteeism, decreased output, and financial loss.

# Soccer: FIFA has announced a new cut-price ticket category for the 2026 World Cup in the US, Canada and Mexico. This follows backlash from fan groups, who accused FIFA of betraying supporters for what they describe as astronomical ticket prices. The world governing body had departed from its initial pricing structure, which represented an increase of almost 500-percent compared to the 2022 tournament in Qatar. FIFA has now made available a number of supporter entry tier fixed tickets at around one-thousand-rand for all 104 matches, including the final.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-73-cents and the euro at 19-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-31-cents and Bitcoin trades at 87-thousand-121-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-320-dollars-22-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 59-dollars-91-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….