News 18:00

BULLETIN 26 September 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa lost 144-thousand jobs from June 2023 to June 2024
# HSBC bank exits South Africa after 29 years
# And tennis: A winning start for Jannik Sinner in China

# South Africa lost 144-thousand jobs from June last year to June this year. This is according to the Quarterly Employment Statistics survey for the second quarter released by Statistics South Africa today. Total employment in the formal non-agricultural sector increased by 42-thousand in the second quarter of 2024, bringing the level of employment to 10.7-million. The community services industry recorded the largest job increases. Manufacturing, business services, mining, transport, trade and construction shed jobs. Year-on-year, average monthly earnings grew by 4.8-percent.

# British universal bank, HSBC will exit South Africa after 29 years. The bank is selling its banking business to FirstRand and its equities unit to Absa. The London-based bank will transfer clients, assets, liabilities, and employees to FirstRand by late 2025, pending regulatory approval. Absa will take over HSBC’s equities operations. This follows HSBC’s global refocusing on core Asian markets, continuing its worldwide business sell-offs.

# Rise Mzansi calls for a crisis plan as stolen police firearms are fueling criminal activities. Reports indicate that 371 firearms and over 29-thousand rounds of ammunition were lost or stolen between October last year and March this year, with Gauteng recording the highest number of incidents at 121.  The party’s Makashule Gana says the alarming statistics, disclosed by Police minister Senzo Mchunu, include rifles often used in cash-in-transit heists: 

# The DA will engage with Transport minister Barbara Creecy over the Road Accident Fund’s costly suspension of employees. Over 84-million-rand has been paid to suspended staff since 2020, impacting claims processing and financial efficiency. DA Transport spokesperson, Chris Hunsinger, says the party seeks clarity on the staff suspensions’ impact, and reforms to the RAF Act to prevent financial strain on taxpayers:

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner lost  the first set to Chile’s Nicolas Jarry before winning in three sets in his first match of the Chinese Open. This was the Italian’s first match since clinching his second Grand Slam title in the US Open earlier this month. There were also first-round victories for Frenchman Adrian Mannarino and Pavel Kotov of Russia. In the Japanese Open, top-seeded American Taylor Fritz, who lost to Sinner in New York, was beaten by Arthur Fils of France in the first round.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-25-cents and the euro at 19-rand-22-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-819-dollars-81-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-667-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….