News 14:00

BULLETIN 30 May 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Late voting delays the ballot counting in the Western Cape 
# North Korea drops trash balloons on the South 
# And cricket: The Proteas hope their IPL players will make a big impact at the T20 World Cup 

# The Electoral Commission in the Western Cape reports that late voting will likely delay ballot counting. Electoral Official Michael Hendrickse says the last station in Parklands, Cape Town, closed at around 1 am. Delays in some stations are attributed to issues with voter management devices, personnel, and training. Hendrickse commended voters’ patience and noted counting in the metro areas with larger populations would take longer to complete. The DA is currently in the lead in the province.

Meanwhile, ACDP deputy president Wayne Thring has thanked South Africans for coming out in their numbers to vote for the party. Thring says while the results are coming in, the party is hoping for more support. He says the ACDP is going to do well in all nine provinces:

# Preliminary results from the Electoral Commission a short while ago showed the ANC was leading with 43.19-percent. The DA followed with 24.89-percent while the EFF was on 8.76-percent. The MK Party and the Patriotic Alliance are among the top five nationally, with 8.13- and 4.18-percent respectively.

# North Korea has dropped at least 260 balloons carrying rubbish in South Korea, prompting authorities to warn its residents to stay indoors. The balloons have been found in eight of nine provinces in South Korea and are now being analysed. North and South Korea have both used balloons in their propaganda campaigns since the Korean War. The recent incident comes days after North Korea said it would retaliate against the scattering of leaflets and other rubbish by activists in the South.

# Cricket: The Proteas will start their T20 World Cup campaign against Sri Lanka in New York on Monday. South Africa concluded their preparations by going down three-nil in a T20 series against the Windies. The Proteas will however welcome back several players who took part in the Indian Premier League, like Aiden Markram, Heinrich Klaasen, David Miller, Tristan Stubbs and Marco Jansen. Coach Rob Walter hopes these players will make a big impact:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-61-cents and the euro at 20-rand-12-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-66-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-565-dollars-36-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-331-dollars-14-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….