News 08:00

BULLETIN 11 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The set of rules to guide the work of the Impeachment Committee is sent back for refinement
# OUTA supports the Auditor-General’s probe into student accommodation
# And cricket: Stokes and Atkinson are dropped from the England squad for the second Test against New Zealand

# The National Assembly’s Rules Committee has referred the rules set out to guide the work of the Impeachment Committee back to the Rules Subcommittee for refining. Members of the committee have questioned whether a president can be impeached for direct conduct only or also indirect conduct. They also clashed over whether only certain members of Parliament should qualify to sit on the committee. The MK Party’s Mzwanele Manyi says constitutional accountability cannot be confined to conduct physically executed by the president:

# OUTA says the Auditor-General’s inspection of National Student Financial Aid Scheme-funded student accommodation should not only identify problems but also be used to strengthen oversight and improve the system. The organisation says student housing must be properly vetted, safe and fully compliant with regulations before students are placed and public funds are paid out. OUTA’s Rudie Heyneke says the findings should help close gaps in accreditation and verification processes:

# The South African Human Rights Commission has recommended that the council of Makana Local Municipality in the Eastern Cape be dissolved, and legal action be taken against mayor Yandiswa Vara and her leadership. This comes as the commission has released a scathing report on the municipality’s water and sanitation crisis, citing systemic and structural failures that have violated residents’ constitutional rights to dignity. SAHRC’s Henk Boshoff says between 2023 and 2026, they received over 30 complaints from residents on service delivery failures:

# The US launched new strikes against targets in Iran for the second consecutive day, after president Donald Trump warned that they would resume attacks, citing slow progress in negotiations for a deal to end the war. The US Central Command says Iranian military surveillance capabilities, communication systems, and air defence sites were targeted. In response, Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps says its aerospace and naval units carried out operations against US targets in Bahrain and Kuwait, and also struck ships in the Strait of Hormuz.

# Cricket: England captain Ben Stokes and fast bowler Gus Atkinson have been dropped for the second Test against New Zealand, as they are being investigated for breaching team protocols. They broke the team’s midnight curfew when they were present at a nightclub during an altercation with a Saracens rugby player in the early hours of Monday morning. Fast bowler Jofra Archer and batter Jordan Cox have been included in the squad. Joe Root will take over the captaincy for the Test, which begins at the Oval next Wednesday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-55-cents and the euro at 19-rand-11-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-14-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-37-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-61-dollars-59-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 93-dollars-66-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….