News 15:00

BULLETIN 14 July 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Thousands of Malawians remain stranded outside their consulate in Johannesburg
# The Anglican Diocese of Cape Town condemns attacks against foreign migrants
# And SA Rugby will review its ticket pricing after the current Test season

# Thousands of Malawian nationals remain camped outside their country’s consulate in Woodmead, Johannesburg, hoping to return home amid ongoing tensions targeting foreign nationals. The Continent‘s international editor, Simon Allison, says many are documented migrants who fled their homes in Gauteng and the Free State. He says aid organisations and volunteers are providing food, healthcare and transport assistance, but resources are becoming increasingly stretched as more people arrive.

Meanwhile, the Anglican Diocese of Cape Town has condemned hate speech, vigilantism, violent attacks and looting being unleashed on foreign migrants. It says they are being scapegoated as a result of justified anger at South Africa’s crisis of crime, unemployment and failures in service delivery. Archbishop Thabo Makgoba has called for dialogue with leaders of March and March, Operation Dudula-Western Cape and others to identify the root causes of tensions and solutions to the current crisis. He says churches must become agents of reconciliation, peace and justice within communities.

# The Soil of Africa Civic Movement reaffirms its support for the Constitution, the rule of law, and the independence of the judiciary following Vusimuzi “Cat” Matlala’s withdrawal from a proposed plea and sentence agreement in the Medicare 24 corruption case. The movement’s Luzuko Sofute says the matter should proceed through the normal court process. He called on the public to respect judicial independence and support efforts to combat corruption:

# Education activist Hendrick Makaneta is calling for stronger collaboration between government and traditional leaders to eliminate illegal initiation schools. His plea follows a report by Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs minister Velenkosini Hlabisa that 35 initiates have died sience the start of the current winter initiation season and 58 illegal initiation schools have bene uncovered. Makaneta says while they respect customary initiation as an important cultural practice, no tradition should result in deaths:

On to sports news:

# SA Rugby has confirmed it will conduct a thorough review of ticket pricing after the current season following criticism over the cost of attending Springbok matches. Rugby bosses were forced to slash prices for the Boks’ first Test of 2026 against England at Ellis Park after slow sales. The price of the cheapest tickets were reduced from 950- to 450-rand. SA Rugby president Mark Alexander says the objective is to balance the sport’s financial sustainability with the imperative of keeping rugby accessible to all South Africans.

# 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-3-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-717-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-22-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-54-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….