News 18:00

BULLETIN 18 March 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The South African Chamber of Commerce hands over 67-thousand South African refugee requests to the US embassy
# Rugby: The Stormers get Willemse and Feinberg-Mngomezulu back for their United Rugby Championship tour
# And the rand hits its best level against the dollar since December

# The South African Chamber of Commerce in the USA has handed over the details of more than 67-thousand South Africans to the US embassy in Pretoria. This follows president Donald Trump’s executive order offering refugee status to Afrikaners. Today’s handover is part of their support for resettlement in the US. The chamber’s president, Neil Diamond, says they will now focus on promoting US-South African business relations. He urges registrants to directly contact the embassy for updates.

# City Power in Johannesburg has launched disciplinary and legal actions after a forensic investigation exposed financial irregularities. The utility’s spokesperson Isaac Mangena says CEO Tshifularo Mashava confirmed fraudulent procurement, collusion, and inflated invoices caused financial losses. Fifteen employees face disciplinary action, with one facing prosecution. Payments to implicated contractors have been frozen. Mashava revealed the probe also links internal collusion to cable theft:

# Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi has issued a stern warning to heads of departments who fail to utilise allocated budgets, stating immediate disciplinary processes and possible dismissal. This follows a 1.2-billion-rand rollover to the next financial year. Speaking at the sidelines after the Gauteng budget speech, the premier emphasised that such inefficiencies won’t be tolerated, stressing that funds must be used for essential service delivery:

# Rugby: A 30-player Stormers squad leaves Cape Town today for a two-match United Rugby Championship tour, which will see them face Scarlets in Wales on Saturday and Ulster in Northern Ireland next Friday. Lock Connor Evans and backs Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, Suleiman Hartzenberg and Damian Willemse all make their return from injury, while outside back Luke Burger is the only uncapped player in the group. Ben-Jason Dixon and Stefan Ungerer are out injured and prop Neethling Fouché will welcome the arrival of his second child this week.

# And despite all the debates about South Africa’s strained relations with the US, the rand hit its best level against the dollar since mid-December today, strengthening to 18-rand-one-cent against the dollar this morning. Last month, the currency briefly spiked above 19-rand after US president Donald Trump announced his country would stop sending aid to South Africa over its land expropriation policies. The dollar has been weakening against most currencies as the market focuses on US protectionism and tariffs.

The dollar now trades at 18-rand-10-cents and the euro at 19-rand-75-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-49-cents and Bitcoin trades at 81-thousand-287-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-25-dollars-61-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-93-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….