News 11:00

BULLETIN 23 July 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# BOSA says the government of national unity is weakening Parliament’s accountability role
# Kamala Harris earns enough delegate support to become the Democratic presidential nominee
# And Olympics: Alcaraz will let Nadal take the lead in their doubles matches in Paris

# Build One South Africa says the government of national unity has an unintended consequence and that is weakening Parliament’s accountability role. Currently, 70-percent of Parliament is part of the government of national unity, and one in every five MPs serves as a minister or deputy minister. BOSA’s deputy leader, Nobuntu Hlazo-Webster, says it is important that sacrificing accountability for government unity must be avoided:

# Union federation Saftu has accused the Department of Higher Education of being irresponsible, after returning 580-million-rand in unspent funds to the National Treasury. This was during former minister Blade Nzimande’s tenure. The money could have funded nine-thousand-and-71 students for one academic year. Simultaneously, the department paid seven-million-rand annually to 30 suspended employees. Saftu’s Trevor Shaku says this underspending is mismanagement by the department:

# The EFF in Gauteng has welcomed the guilty verdict handed down to two men for the murder of the party’s Ekurhuleni councillor Koketso Mojatau. The pair were involved in the hijacking and murder of Mojatau in Katlehong in April last year. The EFF says the painful reality is that since Koketso’s murder, crime rates, particularly violent crimes like murder and armed robbery, have continued to escalate in the province. It has reiterated its call for preventive rather than reactive crime strategies.

# US vice president Kamala Harris has secured the support of enough Democratic delegates to win the party’s nomination for president. She has been backed by well more than the one-thousand-976 pledged delegates she will need to win the nomination on the first ballot. Harris can only formally clinch the party’s nomination at the Democratic national convention next month. Speaking at the election headquarters in Delaware, Harris says she fully intends to unite the party and America, and defeat Republican Donald Trump:

# Olympics: Reigning Wimbledon and French Open tennis champion, Carlos Alcaraz, says he will let his legendary compatriot, Rafael Nadal, take the lead when they play doubles in France. The 21-year-old world number three says they will only discuss tactics once they arrive in the French capital. The competition takes place at Roland Garros, where 38-year-old Nadal won 14 of his 22 Grand Slam titles. Alcaraz, who has won four Grand Slam tournaments, says he’s the rookie while Nadal has clinched two gold medals already.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-34-cents and the euro at 19-rand-97-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-70-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-496-dollars-33-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-390-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-41-cents a barrel.