News 17:00

BULLETIN 15 June 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Business Leadership South Africa hails reform gains but warns the investment crisis persists
# The Cape Town mayor welcomes police support for expanded Metro Police powers
# And rugby: The Springbok Women will host Ireland in Cape Town

# Business Leadership South Africa says recent developments, including a credit rating upgrade, improved port performance in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, and stronger-than-expected gross domestic product growth, show that reforms are starting to work. However, the organisation warns investment remains too low at just 13.5-percent of gross domestic product, far below the 30-percent target needed to drive stronger growth. In her weekly newsletter, the organisation’s CEO, Busisiwe Mavuso, said lingering policy uncertainty, weak investor confidence, and global economic pressures are holding back progress.

# Union federation Cosatu has welcomed international ratings agency Fitch’s latest credit rating on Eskom, saying this is a positive vote of confidence. Fitch has raised the power utility’s long-term issuer default rating from B to B+, following a recent upgrade of South Africa’s sovereign credit rating. This comes at a critical time for the state-owned enterprise as it continues to execute its long-term operational turnaround plan. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says that with Eskom overcoming load-shedding, it now needs support to make electricity affordable:

# Cape Town mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis has welcomed support from outgoing Western Cape police commissioner Thembisile Patekile for expanded powers for Metro Police. Patekile has suggested that certain policing functions could be transferred to Metro Police to ease pressure on police and allow it to focus on specialised investigations, amid resource constraints. Hill-Lewis now urges the national government to act on the proposal:

# A Mexican man caught on video pulling the corners of his eyes during the World Cup match between South Korea and the Czech Republic has apologised after the clip sparked a backlash. A South Korean content creator posted a video of herself at the match with Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes behind her making the slanted-eyes pose. The pose is seen as disrespectful to East Asians. Bernal later apologised and apparently has been removed from his position as president of a Mexican engineering guild. South Korea came from behind to defeat the Czech Republic 2-1.

# Rugby: The Springbok Women will host Ireland in a historic first Test series between the two countries on 24 and 31 October in Cape Town.  The two teams only ever met once before 20 years ago in Canada during the Women’s Rugby World Cup, with Ireland winning 37-0. Springbok Women head coach Swys de Bruin welcomed the confirmation of the matches and said it is the perfect way to conclude a jam-packed 2026 international season. He said to play Ireland, who are ranked fifth in the world, will demand some special performances from the team.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-16-cents against the rand and the euro at 18-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-823-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-353-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….