News 18:00

BULLETIN 5 March 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# OUTA demands decisive measures against maladministration in the revised budget speech
# Police scrutinise AfriForum’s farm murder claims amid controversy
# And rugby: Reds players are allowed to miss the Crusaders clash due to a tropical cyclone at home

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse urges Finance minister Enoch Godongwana to prioritise the fight against corruption and financial mismanagement in next week’s revised budget speech. The organisation criticised the government for failing to tackle wasteful spending and poor financial management, which could improve the national budget by 500-billion-rand annually. OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage expects meaningful changes in the upcoming budget:

# Police are reviewing a list of farm attacks submitted by AfriForum following claims that official crime statistics underreported farm murders. The police’s crime registrar’s preliminary findings confirm just one farm owner was murdered between October and December last year, contrary to the civil rights organisation’s claim of eight farm murders. Police ministry spokesperson Kamogelo Mogotsi says the verification process is ongoing and no additional murders have been identified:

# Turkey plans to build an 8.5-kilometre wall on its western border where neighbours Greece and Bulgaria have already erected their own fences. The barrier is aimed at preventing migrants crossing into European Union member states. Turkey has in the past built walls on its border with Iran and Syria. It shares a 200-kilometre frontier with Greece and the border is separated along the Evros river. Turkey’s western coasts are also a starting point for migrants aiming to reach Greek islands.

# Rugby: Players of Brisbane team, the Reds, will be excused from Sunday’s Super Rugby Pacific match against the Crusaders in New Zealand should they decide to rather return home as a cyclone threatens Australia’s east coast. The team has already landed in Christchurch. Coach Les Kiss says they will do their utmost to help players get home if they want to, with flights already full. Tropical cylone Alfred is expected to reach land as a category two storm on Friday, with heavy rain and potentially life-threatening flash flooding.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-39-cents and the euro at 19-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-61-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-431-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-903-dollars-41-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-48-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Cyclists participating in the weekend’s 47th Cape Town cycle tour are called to raise South African flags in support of charities like CANSA, Tygerberg Hospital Children’s Trust, and Sozo Foundation. For every 109 flags that cross the finish line, Hisense SA will donate state-of-the-art washing machines to these charities. This initiative aims to amplify the race’s charitable impact, with the sponsor committing up to 329-thousand-rand in washing machines to support the organisations’ work.

Stay tuned for more news………….