News 18:00

BULLETIN 24 March 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Ronald Lamola meets with former ambassador Ebrahim Rasool after his return from the US
# Soccer: New Zealand qualifies for the World Cup for the first time since 2010
# And deputy president Mashatile calls for collective action to end TB in South Africa

# The Ministry of International Relations and Cooperation confirmed that minister Ronald Lamola has met with former ambassador Ebrahim Rasool following his return from the US. Rasool was expelled from the US during a row with president Donald Trump’s administration. A formal report on their discussions will be submitted to president Cyril Ramaphosa for consideration. The ministry states that no further public engagements will take place on the matter until the report is reviewed.

# The Department of Water and Sanitation is closely monitoring rising water levels at the Vaal and Bloemhof Dams. Six valves have been opened at the Vaal Dam to increase water outflows by 200 cubic metres per second, with the level currently at 107-percent. The water level at Bloemhof are currently at 100-percent. The department’s Wisane Mavasa says they continue to monitor the situation to prevent any potential risks from the rising water levels:

# Angola has announced it would withdraw from its role as mediator in the conflict in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo in order to focus on its presidency of the African Union. Angolan president Joao Lourenco was named mediator by the AU in 2022 in an attempt to pacify the protracted conflict involving the Rwandan-backed M23 armed group. Angola withdrew to comprehensively focus on the general priorities established by the AU. The Southern African country took up the rotating presidency of the African Union two months ago.

# Soccer: New Zealand will participate in their first World Cup in 16 years next year after they defeated New Caledonia 3-nil in their qualifier in Auckland. Veterans Michael Boxall and Kosta Barbarouses, and substitute Elijah Just scored goals for the hosts at Eden Park to send the All Whites to their third World Cup, taking place in Northern America. They previously played in the tournament in Spain in 1982, and South Africa in 2010, but missed out on the past three. This time, they dominated the Oceania qualifiers.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-12-cents and the euro at 19-rand-58-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-46-cents and Bitcoin trades at 88-thousand-582-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-22-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-16-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Deputy president Paul Mashatile urges South Africans to unite in the fight against tuberculosis. Speaking at the World TB Day commemoration in Gamalakhe, in KwaZulu-Natal, he highlighted the country’s high TB burden, with 270-thousand cases and 56-thousand deaths in 2023. Mashatile also launched the End TB campaign, aiming to test five-million people by next year, and called for better integration of HIV and TB services. He assured citizens that treatment is free at public health facilities:

Stay tuned for more news………….