News 14:00

BULLETIN NEWS AGENCY 12 July 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA requests an urgent probe into Malema and Shivambu’s alleged involvement in the VBS Bank theft
# Government intervenes to assist families amid the Cape Town floods
# And, tennis: Only four men remain in the singles at Wimbledon

# ActionSA in Limpopo says it will request from the police and Hawk to investigate EFF leader Julius Malema and deputy leader Floyd Shivambu’s alleged involvement in the VBS Mutual Bank scandal. ActionSA’s Victor Mothemela says this follows the bank’s former chairperson, Tshifhiwa Matodzi’s detailed affidavit, in which he directly implicates them in the looting of the bank through a company registered under the name of Shivambu’s younger brother, Brian. Mothemela says the party is fully committed to combating corruption wherever it happens:

# Government is assisting to relocate at least 500 households in Cape Town affected by the heavy rains and floods. Human Settlements minister Mmamoloko Kubayi and deputy minister Tandi Mahambehlala led a delegation to assess progress on housing interventions. Kubayi says the temporary relocation to the Western Cape School of Governance aims to provide immediate shelter before permanent relocation. She says the focus is on proactive disaster prevention:

# Various opposition parties are calling for an acceleration in issuing mining licences, criticising the current pace. This follows the Minerals and Petroleum Resources Department’s 11-billion-rand budget vote in Parliament. Minister Gwede Mantashe revealed plans to address challenges, including illegal mining. RISE Mzansi member of Parliament Songezo Zibi highlights bottlenecks hindering the issuance of mining rights and permits and urges faster action:

Meanwhile, the South African mining industry has paid approximately 14-billion-rand in royalties and 90-billion-rand in taxes in 2023. Despite economic challenges, it invested in environmental, social, and governance initiatives, including 2.3-billion-rand annually in socio-economic development and 5.1-billion-rand in training. Mining companies, critical for green technology minerals, are now actively focusing on responsible practices. They also seek to tackle environmental impact by developing 16-thousand megawatts of renewable energy.

# Tennis: Only four men remain in the singles draw at Wimbledon. Third-seeded defending champion Carlos Alcaraz of Spain will play fifth-seeded Russian Daniil Medvedev in the first semifinal at the All England club. This will be followed by the second one between second-seeded seven-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia and the 25th seed, Lorenzo Musetti of Italy, who reached the penultimate round for the first time in his career. The final will be played on Sunday after tomorrow’s women’s final between Italian Jasmine Paolini and Barbora Krejčíková of the Czech Republic.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-99-cents and the euro at 19-rand-59-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-31-cents and Bitcoin trades at 56-thousand-162-dollars-37-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-402-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-74-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….