News 06:00

BULLETIN 23 April 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA vows to protect media freedom against the ANC’s attempts at manipulation
# An Israeli general calls for a commission of inquiry into the 7 October attacks
# And roadrunning: An uphill battle is expected for Gerda Steyn in the Olympic marathon

# The DA pledges to use parliamentary channels to fight against the ANC’s alleged media manipulation and protect journalists from coercion. They urge the South African National Editors’ Forum to uphold its constitutional objectives in condemning the manipulation, revealed in a leaked recording of an ANC’s National Executive Committee meeting. The DA’s Ashor Sarupen views president Cyril Ramaphosa’s directive to control media narratives and suppress negative coverage as a threat to media freedom and democracy. Sarupen urges SANEF to safeguard media integrity:

# Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts has welcomed the court ruling on the Road Accident Fund’s case against the Auditor-General of South Africa. The High Court in Pretoria has dismissed the fund’s bid to change the accounting standard used to compile its annual financial statements. The accounting change slashed the fund’s liabilities by 90-percent, from 331-billion-rand in 2019/2020 to 34-billion-rand in 2021/2022. Scopa says the fund’s board and executives must be held personally liable for the legal costs of this case.  

# Accused killers of Rand Water executive Teboho Joala and his bodyguard, Sifiso Shange, will apply for bail next week. Khulekani Mdluli, Zamokuhle Ntombela, and Lindani Mtshali appeared at Lenasia Magistrate’s Court facing two counts of premeditated murder and three counts of attempted murder. The victims were fatally shot during a school donation event in Zakariyya Park, Johannesburg, in January. Joala was shot eight times in full view of primary school children.

# The City of Cape Town says it is putting 35-million-rand behind Project 1000 leadership in the coming year, as it aims to keep growing policing resources to help fight crime. The project builds on the work of the LEAP programme in partnership with the Western Cape government. Cape Town mayor, Geordin Hill-Lewis, says investments are showing promising results, particularly in helping police combat gang, gun, and drug crime:

# The intelligence chief of the Israeli Defence Force called for a commission of inquiry into the events of 7 October last year after his resignation. Major-general Aharon Haliva acknowledged his intelligence directorate didn’t live up to the task they were entrusted with. This follows reports that units of female conscripts working in surveillance bases on the border with Gaza warned about an imminent attack months in advance, but were ignored. Many of the women were among the over a thousand people killed when Hamas breached the border.

# Roadrunning: South Africa’s golden girl of long-distance running, Gerda Steyn, will have her work cut out for her if she wants to make a mark in the Olympics marathon in Paris. This follows after defending Olympic champion Peres Jepshirchir set a new world record during the London marathon on Sunday. The Kenyan broke the ribbon in two-hours-16 minutes-16-seconds, an improvement of 45 seconds on the previous record set in 2017. Steyn’s best time over the 42-kilometer race is two-hours-24 minutes-3-seconds.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-17-cents and the euro at 20-rand-44-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-69-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-132-dollars-39-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-333-dollars-43-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-38-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….