News 17:00

BULLETIN 17 September 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa hails the Presidency’s role as the engine of government
# A South African Jewish group says the Western world has turned a blind eye to Palestinian displacement
# And Tennis: Sinner adds Djokovic’s former trainer and a physio to the coaching team

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has hailed the Presidency as the driving force of South Africa’s government. Addressing his staff members during a Long Service Award ceremony, Ramaphosa highlighted successes like the Ministry of Electricity and Energy’s efforts to tackle load-shedding. He stressed that the Presidency coordinates key government functions, ensuring seamless cooperation to improve service delivery for all South Africans:

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa has announced plans for the Presidency to embrace digital technology to enhance service delivery through e-government. He highlighted the growing role of technology in South Africa. He also reiterated the government’s commitment to the government of national unity’s statement of intent, ensuring better coordination and efficiency:

# The organisation South African Jews for a Free Palestine, has accused the Western world of turning a blind eye to the displacement of Palestinians. The organisation’s Rina King highlighted the global hypocrisy, citing that 75-percent of Palestinians were driven from their land during the 1948 Palestinian catastrophe, yet international leaders who once vowed never again remain silent. King criticised African Global Dialogue’s Johannesburg conference, accusing Israeli academics of rationalising the ongoing oppression against Palestinians:

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner has added fitness coach Marco Panichi and physiotherapist Ulises Badio to his staff following the dismissal of two members of his team after escaping a doping ban despite failing two drug tests in March. Sinner was cleared last month by an independent tribunal which accepted the explanation that he had inadvertently been contaminated with the drug. Panichi and Badio both previously worked with Novak Djokovic. They had their first session with Sinner yesterday and will travel with him to tournaments in Beijing and Shanghai.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-64-cents and the euro at 19-rand-61-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-30-cents and Bitcoin trades at 59-thousand-251-dollars-26-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-578-dollars-83-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-77-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The City of Cape Town’s Public Emergency Communication Centre says it has noted a 153-percent increase in prank calls over the past four weekends. The centre recorded one-thousand-679 incidents this weekend including 104 prank calls, up from one-thousand-424 the previous weekend. Mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, says the nature of an emergency call taker’s job already comes with a lot of trauma and stress, so prank calls are not funny:

Stay tuned for more news………….