News 11:00

BULLETIN 5 August 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says crime remains an impediment to the country’s economic growth
# Lauren Dickason is appealing her 18-year sentence for the murder of her three daughters in New Zealand
# And Olympic Games: Adam Peaty questions China’s victory in the men’s relay after doping allegations

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says beyond the trauma and instability crime causes in communities, it is also an impediment to economic growth and development. In his weekly newsletter, he says the police’s recent update on Operation Shanela should be an encouragement that the fight against crime is gaining momentum. Over the past year through the operation, more than 700-thousand arrests have been made. Ramaphosa says government’s approach to crime-fighting has had to evolve in response to new crimes, including illicit mining and construction site extortion, and, more recently, kidnappings for ransom.

Meanwhile, the Institute of Security Studies says construction mafias are misrepresenting the policies implemented for the sector. ISS’ crime expert, Lizette Lancaster, says the 30-percent protection fee in Treasury’s Preferential Procurement Regulations aims to transform the economy in order to empower individuals and businesses. But she says the regulations have been misinterpreted by construction mafias who demand a 30-percent share to protect sites from disruption:

# The DA in Gauteng says it rejected the provincial Health Department’s 2024/’25 budget because nothing has changed to ensure the money will be spent efficiently and effectively, without any corruption. The budget was approved last week. The DA’s Jack Bloom says a specific concern is the delay in urgent treatment for cancer patients, despite a significant budget allocated for this purpose:

# South African doctor Lauren Dickason, who was sentenced to 18 years for the 2021 murder of her three children in New Zealand, has launched an appeal against her conviction. Last year, she was found guilty of murdering her daughters, six-year-old Liane and two-year-old twins Maya and Karla. She admitted to strangling and smothering the children, but claimed she was mentally unwell. Dickason pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder, mounting a defence of insanity or infanticide. If her appeal is successful, a second trial could be held.

# Olympic Games: Britian’s six-time Olympic swimming medallist Adam Peaty has questioned China’s victory in the men’s four-by-100-metre medley relay in Paris following doping allegations. Two of the swimmers, Qin Haiyang and Sun Jiajun, were among the 23 Chinese swimmers who reportedly returned positive doping tests before the Tokyo Olympics. They were all cleared to compete based on a finding they had unknowingly ingested a banned substance via contaminated food. Peaty says there is no point in winning if you are not winning fairly.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-49-cents and the euro at 20-rand-20-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-59-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-699-dollars-42-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-428-dollars-55-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….