For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: More painful petrol, diesel hikes confirmed for Wednesday; Parliament closes Malema's VBS Bank file due to lack of evidence; And, African scientists join forces to find HIV vaccine

More painful petrol, diesel hikes confirmed for Wednesday

Motorists can expect hikes of over R1 for all grades of fuel from Wednesday.

More painful petrol, diesel hikes confirmed for Wednesday

The 95 unleaded petrol price will be hiked by R1.14 a litre, while 93 will be increased by R1.08. 0.05% sulphur Diesel will be hiked by R1.96 a litre, while 0.005% sulphur will jump by R1.96.

A litre of 95 unleaded petrol will now cost R25.68 in Gauteng, while the wholesale price of diesel in Gauteng will now be R25.01 a litre, a new high for 2023. In July last year, diesel reached a record high of R25.40.

Illuminating paraffin will see a R1.51 a litre increase.

The department said in its statement that the main reasons behind the increase were crude oil prices, which jumped from $87.78 to $91.86 in the period, refinery shutdowns in the US, global diesel shortages, and the rand's depreciation against the dollar, from R18.67 to R19. A slate levy of 30c will also be implemented on Wednesday.

Parliament closes Malema's VBS Bank file due to lack of evidence

Although Parliament's ethics committee made damning findings against Economic Freedom Fighters deputy president Floyd Shivambu in connection with the VBS Mutual Bank scandal, party president Julius Malema was spared the legislature's wrath.

In 2019, Democratic Alliance leader John Steenhuisen referred a complaint to the committee about Malema's alleged involvement in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal.

The complainant referred to a 2019 Daily Maverick report that claimed Malema benefitted from VBS funds through Mahuna Investments.

It also claimed Malema did not disclose the benefit in his 2017 and 2018 declarations of interests and that Malema did not have a bank account with VBS.

The committee's report reads that the liquidator did not have jurisdiction over the bank account of Mahuna held at ABSA Bank and therefore could not provide any evidence on whether the member received money through the ABSA held bank account of Mahuna.

The committee could not make a breach finding because it was not in possession of sufficient information to make a finding and therefore decided to close the file in the matter.

And, African scientists join forces to find HIV vaccine

South Africa’s Medical Research Council is teaming up with scientists from eight countries on the continent in an US-funded effort to select an immunization candidate against the virus that causes AIDS.

Molecules that are potentially capable of eliciting an immune response against the virus have already been identified for development into vaccine contenders, said Glenda Gray, the president of the South African MRC.

Finding an HIV vaccine has eluded scientists for decades and while there are preventative treatments, they must be taken regularly. Once contracted, life-long use of antiretroviral drugs is necessary to stop the auto-immune disease, which killed 630 000 people globally last year, from becoming fatal.

The MRC is also talking to scientists to get other immunogens that are based on two of the most common types of HIV virus found in Africa and plans to conduct its first HIV vaccine discovery study within a year, Gray said.

Separately, a trial of a preventive HIV vaccine candidate, known as VIR-1388, began last month in the US and South Africa, which has the world’s largest number of people infected with HIV — about 13% of its 61-million population.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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