News 13:00

BULLETIN 26 June 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cosatu is disappointed by Zizi Kodwa’s swearing-in as an MP 
# The MK Party pickets outside a court in KwaZulu-Natal following a case against an IEC official
# And rugby: The Junior Boks are excited about the World Championship opener against Fiji

# Cosatu says it deeply disappointed that its ally the ANC has chosen to ignore its own step aside resolution with the swearing-in of Zizi Kodwa as a member of Parliament. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks says this undermines the ANC’s step aside resolution for public representatives. He adds it sends a worrying message to society about the party’s commitment to holding its public representatives accountable:

# The MK Party in KwaZulu-Natal is holding a picket outside the Pietermaritzburg Magistrate’s Court as an Electoral Commission area manager appears in court. The official is suspected of tampering with ballot papers in the recent elections. The official allegedly moved ballot boxes without a police officer present. The MK Party accuses the IEC of failing to ensure free and fair elections. The party says the protest underscores the party’s demand for electoral integrity and accountability.

# The City of Tshwane says it intends to conclude its debt payment arrangement with Eskom in the new 2024/2025 financial year. Eskom in Gauteng’s spokesperson, Amanda Qithi says Tshwane owed Eskom about 4.9-billion-rand and there is still no payment or settlement agreement in place with the metro yet. Qithi says the city is unable to settle its current account with Eskom:

# The death toll from protests in Kenya has climbed to 13 after anti-tax hike rallies turned violent and police opened fire at demonstrators who ransacked parliament. The unprecedented scenes that left parts of parliament ablaze and gutted and injured scores of people yesterday have shocked Kenyans and prompted president William Ruto’s government to deploy the military. The mainly youth-led rallies began mostly peacefully last week, with thousands of demonstrators marching in the capital Nairobi and across the country against the tax increases.

# Rugby: The Junior Boks are fine tuning their preparations for Saturday’s Under-20 World Championship opener against Fiji at Cape Town Stadium. The squad have moved into their official tournament base in the Mother City from their home base in Stellenbosch. Assistant coach Lumumba Currie says the Fijian side will consist of players who took part in the Pacific and New Zealand Under-20 competitions, which means they are battle hardened and have a team with settled combinations.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-19-cents and the euro at 19-rand-46-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-369-dollars-3-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-316-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….