News 12:00

BULLETIN 25 June 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# OUTA says the Auditor-General’s report exposes a deepening crisis in metro governance
# The UN calls for an end to grave violations against children in armed conflict
# And cricket: Stokes denies a rift with head coach McCullum

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says the Auditor-General’s latest municipal audit report shows local government failures remain a major concern, with no metros achieving a clean audit in the 2024/25 financial year. OUTA’s Julius Kleynhans says residents continue to pay more for services while facing deteriorating infrastructure and poor service delivery. He calls for better financial management and urgent reforms to improve governance in municipalities ahead of the local government elections:

Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana is meanwhile dissatisfied with the progress reports from the City of Johannesburg, as he plans to instruct the National Treasury to stop the transfer of funds to the metro. In a letter to mayor Dada Morero, Godongwana says this step is necessitated by the metro adopting an unfunded budget and persistent failure to address wasteful expenditure. Johannesburg owes Eskom 3.7-billion-rand and Rand Water 1.2-billion-rand. Godongwana has given the metro until tomorrow to explain why the transfer of funds should continue.

# The Tshwane District Police is urging parents and guardians to take proactive steps to ensure the safety and well-being of children during the winter school holidays, which begin tomorrow. Police spokesperson Johan van Dyk warns criminals often target vulnerable children who are left unsupervised at home. He says many incidents can be prevented through vigilance, responsible supervision, and adherence to basic safety precautions:

Moving abroad:

# The United Nations says child protection must be integrated across all peace, security and post‑conflict processes. A report has revealed soldiers and government forces were responsible for more grave violations against children in armed conflict than non-state armed groups last year. It verified 38-thousand-558 grave violations, affecting 24-thousand-174 children. UN special representative for Children and Armed Conflict, Vanessa Frazier, says children associated with armed groups must also be treated as victims.

# Cricket: England’s captain, Ben Stokes, insists there is no divide between himself and coach Brendon McCullum. Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson were dropped from the second Test against New Zealand, which England lost by 253 runs, after a nightclub incident. They were later cleared following investigations by the England and Wales Cricket Board and the Independent Cricket Regulator. Stokes says his one-match suspension has brought him and McCullum closer together:

The deciding Test is played at Trent Bridge from today.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-53-cents and the euro at 18-rand-79-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-81-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-635-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-995-dollars-63-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-8-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….