News 09:00

BULLETIN 17 May 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa is given free rein to set the limit for donations to political parties
# Cosatu does not support the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill
# And the Texas governor pardons a man convicted of killing a Black Lives Matter protester

# The National Assembly has adopted a resolution to allow president Cyril Ramaphosa to regulate new political funding declaration thresholds and annual donation limits. The Electoral Matters Amendment Act came into effect last week, with no limits on how much money political parties and independent candidates can receive, nor is there a threshold after which they must declare donations. The resolution was adopted despite objections from the DA, IFP, FF Plus, ACDP, and Pan-Africanist Congress.

# Cosatu says it does not support the Electricity Regulation Amendment Bill, as it remains deeply concerned about Eskom’s unbundling, including establishing its Transmission Company. The bill was passed by the National Council of Provinces yesterday, setting South Africa on an irreversible path of electricity supply reform. Cosatu’s, Matthew Parks, says separating Eskom into three utilities will create additional boards and management costs when the power utility can least afford it:

# The DA in Gauteng says non-profit organisations in the province are in turmoil due to a failed adjudication process that has led to funding challenges. The provincial Department of Social Development has mishandled the adjudication process and has failed to pay eligible NPOs their subsidies. The DA’s, Refiloe Nt’sekhe, this means that many of the organisations will have to close their doors, retrench staff, or scale back operations:

# Governor of Texas Greg Abbott has pardoned a former US Army sergeant sentenced to 25 years in prison for killing a Black Lives Matter protester in 2020. Moonlighting as an Uber driver in Austin, Daniel Perry, turned onto a street where demonstrators were marching. One of the protesters, Garrett Foster, approached the vehicle carrying a gun and Perry shot him and said he acted in self-defence. However, witnesses testified that they never saw Foster raise his gun. The shooting was one of at least 25 killings during political protests and unrest in 2020.

# Golf: American Xander Schauffele holds a three-shot lead after the opening round of the PGA Championship at the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky. He posted the first 62 rounds in PGA Championship history and just the fourth ever in a men’s major. His compatriots Tony Finau and Sahith Theegala sit in a tie for second on six under. Another American Brooks Koepka opened his title defence with a four-under 67. Schauffele says he is happy with how he played:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-20-cents and the euro at 19-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-541-dollars-27-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-377-dollars-77-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….