News 12:00

BULLETIN 20 July 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ekurhuleni’s former city manager is stripped of her leadership award amid her corruption case
# The Western Cape premier says work on infrastructure restoration projects is ongoing
# And soccer: Mbappé wins the World Cup’s Golden Boot as Rodri is named best player

# The former city manager of Ekurhuleni in Gauteng, Imogen Mashazi, has been stripped of her 2020 Top Empowerment Public Sector Leader Award following her court appearance on charges of fraud, corruption and defeating the ends of justice. She is accused of shielding suspended Ekurhuleni Metro Police officials and interfering in disciplinary processes, including the blue light scandal. The decision follows a request by a civic activist to review the award while criminal proceedings continue. The awards committee says revoking the honour protects the programme’s integrity and credibility.

# The DA has formally submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act application to obtain the long-awaited interim Operation Prosper report from police and the Defence Force. Spokesperson Nicholas Gotsell says without one, no answers or tangible solutions can be offered to communities living under daily siege from gang violence. He says acting minister Firoz Cachalia has previously admitted after three months of deployment, not a single gang was dismantled:

# Western Cape premier Alan Winde says the permanent repairs to infrastructure extensively damaged by the recent record-breaking floods will take up to two years to complete. These include Meiringspoort Pass, Swartberg Pass and several schools. Winde says he understands the importance of roads, bridges and passes which enable businesses to thrive and residents to access opportunities. He says teams are focused on ensuring they get safe solutions in place as quickly as possible:

# The South African Communist Party has condemned the continued US-Israeli war against Iran, which has caused massive devastation to the people of Iran and undermined the ceasefire. Both countries have intensified military strikes against each other in the Middle East in recent weeks. SACP says despite its public declarations of peace, the actions of the US army and its allies demonstrate little inclination to ease their efforts to annihilate Iran and its people. It adds the war is a desperate and destructive act of a desperate superpower.

# Soccer: French captain Kylian Mbappé has won the Golden Boot for the World Cup, becoming the first player to win the award twice. He scored ten goals and is also the tournament’s all-time top scorer with 22. A key figure in Spain’s run to a second men’s World Cup triumph, captain Rodri, won the Golden Ball for the tournament’s best player, while 19-year-old Spaniard Pau Cubarsi was named the best young player. Spain’s Unai Simón claimed the Golden Glove award for best goalkeeper after conceding just once in eight games.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-47-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-18-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-185-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-20-dollars-27-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-36-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….