News 14:00

BULLETIN 14 July 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA takes Mettler’s suspension to court
# Postmortems reveal the Tshuma family died from blunt force trauma
# And rugby: A red-carded English forward is scolded on social media for a moment of madness

# The DA approached the High Court on an urgent basis to overturn the Tshwane council’s decision to suspend city manager Johann Mettler and classify allegations against finiancial chief Gareth Mnisi as less serious. The party’s Cilliers Brink alleges the speaker unlawfully manipulated council voting results by deducting votes to favour the ANC and the EFF. He wants the court to reinstate the original outcomes or order a fresh council meeting:

# A senior investigator from the Independent Directorate Against Corruption, Brian Padayachee, has rejected KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi’s claims he lacks the required qualifications. He testified before the Madlanga commission he obtained his investigator certification in 1998 and is fully qualified for the position. Padayachee also told the commission he has more than 40-years experience in law enforcement and investigations:

# Forensic post-mortems have confirmed the wife and daughters of a Zimbabwean-British citizen who were murdered in England, died from blunt force trauma. The bodies of Nothabo, Natalie and Nala Tshuma were found at their home in Bedfordshire last Monday. Nothabo’s husband, Ndodana, was arrested in Johannesburg on Friday after he fled Britain. He remains in custody after appearing in the local Magistrate’s Court, charged with illegal firearm possession, while extradition proceedings to the UK are considered. Tshuma’s case has been postponed while authorities verify his immigration status.

# The International Maritime Organisation says ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz should not face mandatory tolls or transit charges. President Donald Trump said the US military will protect ship traffic through the strait, but demanded reimbursement equivalent to 20-percent of the value of all transported cargo. Iran has demanded tolls in the strait, but agreed to forgo them for 60 days under the interim deal with the US. The IMO says there is no legal basis through which to introduce mandatory tolls simply to transit through the strait.

# Rugby: England’s junior forward Seb Kelly had been hugely criticised for a moment of madness which probably ended their chances of beating the Junior Springboks in the semifinal of the Junior World Championship in Tsibilisi, Georgia. He was sent off with a permanent red card for head-butting South African fullback Luan Giliomee in the 32nd minute. England lead 17-7 at the time, but eventually lost 53-37. Kelly’s actions were described on social media as incredibly stupid, utterly moronic and absolutely disgusting.  

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-48-cents and the euro at 18-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-613-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-16-dollars-64-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-74-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….