News 17:00

BULLETIN 10 July 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Former Gauteng Health MEC and others have been found liable for some of the Life Esidimeni deaths
# The former VBS Mutual Bank chairperson pleads guilty to 33 charges
# And, tennis: Djokovic reaches Wimbledon’s semifinal for the 13th time after De Minaur withdraws

# The High Court in Pretoria has ruled that former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and others are responsible for the deaths of nine Life Esidimeni patients. The ruling follows investigations into 144 deaths in 2016 due to inadequate care, with further criminal liability to be determined. Judge Mmonoa Teffo found that Mahlangu, mental health director Makgabo Manamela, and Dorothy Franks from non-governmental organisation Anchor were negligent, leading to fatalities after moving patients to ill-equipped NGOs despite expert warnings:

# Former VBS Mutual Bank chairperson Tshifhiwa Matodzi has pleaded guilty to 33 charges at the High Court in Pretoria. The mastermind behind the theft of over 2.2-billion-rand from the bank admitted to charges including theft, fraud, money laundering, and racketeering. He confessed to stealing 250-million-rand by creating fictitious accounts. The bank, placed under curatorship in 2018, began liquidation dividends in 2022. In 32 arrests, the most-high profile sentence was former chief financial official Phillip Truter, who received seven years’ imprisonment and turned state witness.

# Civil rights organisation AfriForum has advised parents to register their children online for Grade 1 or 8 in Gauteng schools from tomorrow. The registration period ends on the 12th of next month. AfriForum’s head of Cultural Affair, Alana Bailey, called on parents to submit the necessary documents within seven days of applying online. She emphasises the importance of timely registration and says AfriForum will provide support for any issues encountered:

# Prosecutors in New York say former Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein is facing an investigation over additional violent sexual assaults. According to prosecutor Nicole Blumberg, they will seek a new indictment, since the additional assaults were still within the statute of limitations to be charged as crimes. The 72-year-old was convicted of rape in a landmark case in New York in 2020 and handed a 23-year prison sentence, but it was overturned in April. A retrial is yet to be announced. The case kickstarted the global #MeToo movement.

#  Tennis: Seven-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia is through to the semifinals of Wimbledon for the 13th time after Alex de Minaur had to withdraw from their quarterfinal clash. The Australian injured his hip during Monday’s fourth round match against Frenchman Arthur Fils. He says he is devastated to have to pull out, but there’s a high risk of aggravating the injury should he play. Djokovic will face the winner of today’s last quarterfinal between Italian Lorenzo Musetti and American Taylor Fritz in Friday’s penultimate round.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-6-cents and the euro at 19-rand-55-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-14-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-87-dollars-40-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-378-dollars-98-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-48-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….