News 18:00

BULLETIN 17 March 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A former Eskom contractor is granted two-million-rand bail
# Business Leadership South Africa calls for infrastructure focus in budget debates
# And the Pakistani Cricket Board serves Corbin Bosch with a legal notice after his move to the IPL

# Former Eskom contractor Michael Lomas, accused in a 1.4-billion-rand corruption case, has been granted two-million-rand’s bail by the High Court in Johannesburg. The funds were meant to upgrade Eskom’s Kusile power station in Mpumalanga between 2014 and 2017. Lomas and eleven others are facing over 40 counts of corruption. His trial is set for 20 July next year. Investigators claim Lomas fabricated reasons for fleeing South Africa to Britain, but he insists he was in the UK to handle personal matters, including selling property.

# Business Leadership South Africa has urges Parliament to prioritise infrastructure investment in budget debates to drive economic growth. CEO Busi Mavuso emphasised that growth enables job creation and better public services. Mavuso highlighted the need for government-private partnerships and policy reforms to accelerate infrastructure projects. She urged lawmakers to ensure the budget stimulates economic expansion.

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says investing in early childhood development now will save South Africa billions in the future. Addressing the Bana Pele Summit in Johannesburg, he said quality early learning reduces poverty, improves education outcomes, and lowers costs in healthcare, social services, and crime prevention. Ramaphosa highlighted studies showing that every rand spent on ECD can save up to seven-billion-rand in future costs:

# National Disaster Management head Elias Sithole is calling on the eThekwini Municipality to adjust its budget priorities to address the damage caused by floods in KwaZulu-Natal. This follows the city’s announcement of a ten-billion-rand infrastructure overhaul for water, electricity, and waste management. He stressed that years of service failures and storm damage have worsened water losses and power outages, urging proper allocation for recovery efforts:

# Cricket: Proteas all-rounder Corbin Bosch has been served a legal notice by the Pakistani Cricket Board alleging breach of contractual obligations. The follows after Bosch signed to play for the Mumbai Indians in this year’s Indian Premier League. He was contracted by Peshawar Zalmi in January to play in the Pakistani Super League. The IPL and the PSL clash for the first time this year. The Pakistani Cricket Board says Bosch has been asked to justify his actions.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-11-cents and the euro at 19-rand-76-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-820-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-996-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-77-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….