News 17:00

BULLETIN 6 June 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Numsa warns of a deepening job crisis as Goodyear SA closes a manufacturing plant
# President Ramaphosa is to mark Youth Month with visits to youth employment initiative sites
# And Rugby: Three Bok Women debutants are to start in the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup opener

# Metalworkers union Numsa says the Eastern Cape faces a deepening jobs crisis as tyre manufacturer Goodyear South Africa moves to close its manufacturing plant in Uitenhage. Over 900 workers are expected to be affected. The union warns that this will worsen unemployment in the province, which already stands at 42-percent. Numsa’s Phakamile Hlubi-Majola says they will fight to protect jobs and secure fair severance packages:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa will mark Youth Month by engaging with young beneficiaries of key employment programmes in Pretoria on Tuesday. Ramaphosa will visit sites linked to the Presidential Youth Employment Initiative and the Presidential Employment Stimulus. These include Sefako Makgatho Primary School in Saulsville, the South African Creative Industries Incubator in Eersterust, and the Foundation for Professional Development. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya told the media the visits aim to showcase innovative public-private partnerships:

# The Department of Agriculture expects a 72-million-rand shipment of foot-and-mouth disease vaccines to arrive in South Africa by the second week of June. The deputy director-general for Agricultural Production, Biosecurity and Natural Resources Management, Dipepeneneng Serage, told Moneyweb the vaccines are being imported from Botswana due to South Africa’s limited domestic manufacturing capacity. The department has estimated the vaccine requirements to fight the disease for the 2025/2026 financial year at 1.2-billion-rand, with each dose expected to cost around one-hundred-rand.

# Iran warned Britain, France and Germany against backing a draft resolution at the International Atomic Energy Agency accusing Tehran of non-compliance, calling it a “strategic mistake”. Foreign minister Abbas Araghchi said Iran will react strongly against any violation of its rights. The warning from Iran’s top diplomat comes as the three European governments prepare to join Washington in backing a censure resolution at next week’s board meeting. The resolution would accuse Iran of failing to meet its nuclear obligations and carries the threat of referral to the UN Security Council.

# Rugby: Anathi Qolo will captain a Springbok women’s side with a combined 174 caps in their Rugby Africa Women’s Cup opener against Uganda in Antananarivo tomorrow. Three uncapped players, wing Patience Mokone, number 8 Faith Tshauke and flanker Anushka Groenewald, are in the starting team. A further five uncapped players have been named on the replacements’ bench in props Anuchka Ekron and Sinothile Bhengu, lock Dineo Ndlhovu, flanker Nobuhle Mjwara and centre Leigh Fortuin. Anja le Roux was deemed medically unfit to travel to Madagascar and is replaced by Vianca Boer.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-76-cents and the euro at 20-rand-22-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-1-cent and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-46-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-354-dollars-14-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….