News 18:00

BULLETIN 22 September 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Shadrack Sibiya will be held at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre after his court appearance on sex offence charges
# The Board of Healthcare Funders reiterates the call for structural reforms to reduce private healthcare costs
# And motorsport: the South African Formula One bid is gathering pace

# Suspended deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya is expected back in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court on 29 September on charges of rape and sexual assault. The senior police officer is accused of raping an 18-year-old woman and sexually grooming a 16-year-old girl. National Prosecuting Authority’s Kaizer Kganyago says Sibiya will be held at Kgosi Mampuru Correctional Centre, while the state opposes bail over concerns about witness interference, threats and possible escape:

# The Board of Healthcare Funders supports the objective of keeping medical scheme contribution increases as low as possible, but says this cannot be achieved through contribution guidance alone. The Council for Medical Schemes recommended that contribution increases for the 2027 benefit year be anchored at 3.8-percent. BHF’s managing director, Katlego Mothudi, says healthcare providers and large hospital groups are effectively price setters, while medical schemes, and their members, are price takers:

# Build One South Africa has hit back at the DA’s latest housing pledge for Cape Town, calling it too little, too late. Mayoral candidate Geordin Hill-Lewis unveiled a new affordable housing plan yesterday ahead of the local government elections. However, BOSA’s Roger Solomons says the numbers tell a different story, with just over seven-thousand-400 housing opportunities delivered across the Western Cape in the past year, against a demand list of more than 490-thousand households:

# Russia has struck industrial sites across southeastern and central Ukraine, killing four people and injuring six, according to Ukrainian officials. Missiles, drones and artillery hit the cities of Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih and Pavlohrad. Businesses and warehouse facilities were damaged in the attacks. Ukraine’s air force says the barrage included four cruise missiles and 212 drones. A separate Russian strike on an energy facility in the northern Chernihiv region left nearly 100-thousand consumers without electricity.

Motorsport: A South African consortium seeking to bring Formula One racing back to the country has appointed financial advisers as the project takes shape. Former Sibanye-Stillwater chief executive Neal Froneman and mining veteran Srinivasan Venkatakrishnan are among those behind the proposed 6.7-billion-rand motorsport complex in the Swartland, north of Cape Town. Rothschild is advising on Formula One approval, corporate partners and government backing. The development would include a Formula One-compliant circuit costing about 2-billion-rand, as well as hospitality, conference and residential facilities. The proposed venue could accommodate 125-thousand spectators.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-21-cents against the rand and the euro at 18-rand-57-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-66-cents and Bitcoin trades at 86-thousand-218-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-336-dollars-99-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 99-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….