News 07:00

BULLETIN 4 July 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Public Servants Association asks Ramaphosa to take action against employers who failed to pay employees’ pension contributions
# Feroz Khan allegedly shared internal South African Police Service information
# And tennis: NaomiOsaka reaches the Wimbledon last 16 for the first time

 # The Public Servants Association is calling on president Cyril Ramaphosa and government to take decisive and immediate action against employers who failed to pay employees’ pension contributions. Retirement fund arrears have climbed to an alarming 8.3-billion-rand, affecting nearly 590-thousand workers across South Africa. PSA spokesperson, Claude Naicker says any employer who deducts these contributions but fails to pay these over is effectively depriving workers of hard-earned retirement savings:

# The DA is concerned by comments made by Minister in the Presidency, Khumbudzo Ntshaveni, who publicly reprimanded South African High Commissioner to India, Anil Sooklal, for receiving former president Jacob Zuma, and Ajay Gupta upon a recent visit to India. The party’s Ryan Smith says the only problem is that it was confirmed to Parliament’s portfolio committee on International Relations and Cooperation yesterday that High Commissioner Sooklal received written instructions from DIRCO to do so

# The Madlanga Commission has heard allegations that chat messages suggest suspended deputy Crime Intelligence head Feroz Khan shared internal South African Police Service information and helped connect private individuals to government procurement channels. Evidence leader Advocate Adila Hassim says the messages point to Khan’s alleged involvement in a private commercial effort linked to a National Treasury agreement. However, Hassim told the commission it remains unclear whether any deal was ultimately concluded:

# Tennis: Japan’s Naomi Osaka ended her long wait to reach the Wimbledon fourth round for the first time with a 6-1, 6-3 win against Australian Daria Kasatkina on Friday.  The 28-year-old needed just 65 minutes to dispatch Kasatkina, setting up a fourth-round clash against world No 1 Aryna Sabalenka or former Roland Garros champion Jelena Ostapenko. Osaka’s habit of wearing haute couture costumes onto court before removing them to play in her usual tennis attire has been the talk of Wimbledon. She wore an all-white layered Japanese ceremonial-style kimono before facing Kasatkina.

# Soccer: Fifty members of the European Parliament have urged FIFA’s ethics committee to investigate their president Gianni Infantino for awarding a ‘peace prize’ to US President Donald Trump. The MEPs signed a letter, supporting a complaint by British-based sports human rights lobbying group FairSquare in December. The letter said FIFA’s code of ethics required Infantino to remain politically neutral. FairSquare said the letter was the most significant intervention by European policymakers into misgovernance and rule breaking at the top of the world game since the European Parliament called on Infantino’s predecessor Sepp Blatter to resign in 2015.

# And finally: CapeNature has urged the public to remain vigilant as bird flu continues to affect seabirds and other wild birds along the Western Cape coastline. The conservation agency is advising people not to touch sick or dead birds, to keep pets away from them, and to report sightings to the relevant authorities. CapeNature’s Luke Folb says human infections remain rare, but advises the public to avoid contact with infected birds:

Stay tuned for more news………….