News 17:00

BULLETIN 12 November 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Enoch Godongwana outlines measures to tackle illicit trade and boost public revenues
# The EFF rejects minister Godongwana’s fifth medium-term budget policy statement
# And, the ANC welcomes the decline in unemployment

# Finance minister Enoch Godongwana says the government is stepping up efforts to fight illicit trade, boost tax collection, and modernise the public service. In his fifth medium-term budget policy statement in Parliament, Godongwana said the South African Revenue Service and the Financial Intelligence Centre are targeting illegal markets for cigarettes, alcohol, fuel, and procurement fraud, which cost the state billions each year. He added the public service is being cleaned up to remove ghost workers:

Meanwhile the EFF has rejected Godongwana’s budget. Party leader Julius Malema criticised it for failing to address unemployment, underfunded policing and the army, deteriorating infrastructure, and over-reliance on private sector investment. Malema also warned that rising revenue without stronger anti-corruption measures will not benefit working-class South Africans:

# The ANC says the government is making progress as unemployment drops to 31.9-percent, between July and September. Statistics South Africa’s latest data reveals over 248-thousand new jobs were created, the highest since before the Covid-19 pandemic. The party believes its ten-point plan to grow the economy is working. ANC acting spokesperson Nonceba Mhlauli says too many South Africans remain jobless, urging the government, business, and labour to intensify efforts to grow the economy and protect existing jobs.

# Turkey announced today 20 of its soldiers were killed when a military transport plane crashed in Georgia yesterday, marking the NATO member’s deadliest military incident since 2020. The C-130 cargo aircraft was enroute from Azerbaijan to Turkey when it crashed in Georgia, leaving chunks of twisted metal strewn across a grassy knoll. Ankara has not provided the cause of the crash, but said Turkish and Georgian authorities started inspections at the site in Georgia’s Kakheti district.

# Soccer: Portuguese striker Cristiano Ronaldo says next year’s World Cup in Canada, Mexico and the United States will definitely be his last. The 40-year-old, who plays in Saudi Arabia with Al-Nassr, has scored 953 goals for club and country, and is the first-ever male player to score at five World Cups. In an interview at the Tourise Summit in Riyadh, Ronaldo said having an opportunity to play in his sixth World Cup is special:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-6-cents and the euro at 19-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-968-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-127-dollars-21-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-15-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….