News 16:00

BULLETIN 26 February 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Paul O’Sullivan walks out of Parliament’s ad hoc committee hearings
# Ramaphosa calls for a stronger traditional leaders’ role in local government
# And cricket: Markram leads the Proteas to a nine-wicket victory over the Windies

# Forensic examiner Paul O’Sullivan walked out of Parliament’s ad hoc committee hearings probing alleged political interference in the justice system after raising concerns about missing his flight. Committee members David Skosana and Julius Malema questioned his early departure while he was still being examined. O’Sullivan says he had repeatedly warned he needed to leave for a scheduled flight. Chairperson Soviet Lekganyane confirmed Parliament’s legal council will advise on next steps:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says service delivery challenges, particularly water shortages, are negatively affecting communities under traditional leaders. Speaking to the National House of Traditional and Khoi-San Leaders, Ramaphosa announced a 156-billion-rand investment over three years for water and sanitation projects nationwide. He called for structured cooperation between municipalities and traditional leadership to improve local governance and ensure rural communities benefit from sustainable infrastructure development:

# The DA says the City of Tshwane is facing serious financial trouble, with its deficit rising to 5.3-billion-rand under the ANC-led coalition. The party warns the city prioritised backdated salary increases over fixing water and electricity outages, overspent 125-million-rand on water tankers, and lacks a fully funded budget. The DA’s Cilliers Brink says major infrastructure projects, including upgrades to wastewater plants and reservoir telemetry, face cuts:

# Standard Bank says the 2026 national budget has delivered targeted relief for small and medium-sized enterprises, including a significant increase in the value-added-tax registration threshold. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana has adjusted the compulsory VAT registration threshold for businesses in the country from one-million-rand to 2.3-million-rand. Standard Bank’s Simone Cooper says tax exemptions for qualifying business owners are very much welcomed.

# Cricket: Captain Aiden Markram propelled the Proteas to a nine-wicket victory over the West Indies in their T20 World Cup Super Eight game in Ahmedabad. The Windies batted first and stuttered after a quick start before Jason Holder and Romario Shepherd built a world-record T20 international eight-wicket partnership of 91 to take them to 176 for eight. Markram scored an undefeated 82 of just 46 runs, while Quinton de Kock contributed 47 and Ryan Rickelton 45, and South Africa reached the target with 23 balls remaining.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-87-cents and the euro at 18-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-50-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-234-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-171-dollars-92-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….