News 17:00

BULLETIN 30 September 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa lost 80-thousand jobs in the second quarter of 2025
# The port of Cape Town’s world ranking improves slightly, but remains among the lowest globally
# And tennis: Alcaraz is the champion in Tokyo and Jannik Sinner reaches the final in Beijing

# A total of 80-thousand jobs were lost in the formal non-agricultural sector in the second quarter of this year. According to Statistics SA’s Quarterly Labour Force Survey, 229-thousand jobs were lost between June 2024 and June this year. Stats SA’s Matlapane Masupye says from April to June, community services experienced the highest job losses. He says the mining industry reported an increase of two-thousand jobs, while electricity added one-thousand:

# The MK Party has called for the immediate arrest of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew, Hangwani Maumela, following the Special Investigating Unit’s interim report on corruption and looting at Tembisa Hospital in Gauteng. The report implicates Maumela and businessman Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala in fraudulent contracts and hands a prosecution-ready case to the National Prosecuting Authority. MK spokesperson Nhlamulo Ndhlela says justice will only be served when those at the top of these criminal networks are held accountable:

# The port of Cape Town has improved slightly in the World Bank’s world port efficiency rankings. The port gained the most points globally in the 2024 Container Port Index published by the World Bank and S&P Global Market Intelligence, moving up from last position to 400th out of 403 ports. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says despite the improvement, the port remains among the bottom five in the world. He says this shows just how far behind the port has been lagging:

# The European Union will set emissions-cutting targets for 2035 and ’40 in time for the COP30 climate summit in Belém, Brazil, in November. The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, acknowledged at an EU event in Brussels the need for pragmatism given divisions between member countries over the goals. She says Europe would stand by its climate goals; that Brussels was cutting red tape to help businesses with the green transition; and was investing in power grids so consumers will feel the benefits of cheaper renewable energy.

# Tennis: World number one Carlos Alcaraz is the Japanese Open champion. The Spaniard revenged his recent Laver Cup loss to Taylor Fritz, beating the American in straight sets in Tokyo for his eighth title of the season. Over in Beijing, world number two Jannik Sinner defeated Australian Alex de Minaur to reach the final of the China Open. The Italian plays Learner Tien for the title tomorrow after the American teenager advanced when Russian Daniil Medvedev retired hurt in the third set of their semifinal.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-30-cents and the euro at 20-rand-28-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-21-cents and Bitcoin trades at 113-thousand-290-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-812-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….