News 06:00

BULLETIN 1 July 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa announces a new Cabinet with John Steenhuisen as Agriculture minister
# The president says reducing the size of the cabinet was not possible
# And a poll shows 72-percent of voters believe Biden should not be running for president

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced his new cabinet, which consists of the eleven political parties that are part of the government of national unity. The deputy president remains Paul Mashatile. Some key appointments include DA leader John Steenhuisen as the minister of Agriculture, Freedom Front Plus leader Pieter Groenewald as the minister of Correctional Services, and Enoch Godongwana remaining the Finance minister. At the same time, Patriotic Alliance’s Gayton Mackenzie is the minister of Sports, Arts, and Culture. Ramaphosa says the cabinet will give effect to the will of the electorate:

Meanwhile, Ramaphosa says it has not been possible to reduce the number of portfolios in the national executive. He says this is due to the need to ensure that the executive is inclusive of all the parties of the government of national unity. Ramaphosa says in some instances, they have considered it necessary to separate certain portfolios to ensure that there is sufficient focus on key issues, including merging the ministries of Electricity and Energy:

# Sadtu’s national executive committee says the DA is working with the West to manipulate the rand, causing the loss of jobs. The teachers’ union’s general secretary Mugwena Maluleke says they have accommodated those who stole land and wealth for 30 years in the hope that white South Africans would embrace social cohesion and justice. He adds the DA is, however, protecting their ill-gotten wealth:

# Rating agency Moody’s has upgraded the City of Cape Town’s credit rating from stable to positive, crediting the city’s consistently strong and improving operating and financial performance. It says the city’s proactive approach to tackling revenue collection challenges and controlling expenditure growth, demonstrated its strong governance and effective budget management. Moody’s believes Cape Town’s financial performance could mitigate the reliance on debt for its substantial 49-billion-rand investment programme.

# A CBS News poll shows that 72-percent of registered voters believe US president Joe Biden should not be running for president in November. This follows his performance in last week’s presidential debate against Donald Trump. Voters polled have concerns about Biden’s age, decisions he might make in office, and his ability to campaign effectively. Only 27-percent of voters believe Biden has the mental and cognitive health to serve as president, compared to 50-percent for Trump.

# Cricket: Captain Laura Wolvaardt and Sune Luus led South Africa’s fightback on day three of the one-off Test against India in Chennai. The visitors were forced to follow on after being dismissed for 266 in their first innings. This is after the home side declared on 603. Luus scored 109, her maiden Test ton, while Wolvaardt ended the day unbeaten on 93. The Proteas Women will resume the fourth and final day today on 232 for two in the second innings, trailing India by 105, to make the hosts bat again.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-7-cents and the euro at 19-rand-43-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-88-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-133-dollars-20-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-325-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-24-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….