News 11:00

BULLETIN 10 April 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The GOOD Party says their meeting with the ANC over the budget was constructive
# AfriForum wants farm attacks to be prioritised nationally
# And the NPA reopens the inquest into the deaths of Luthuli and Mxenge

# The GOOD Party says it has engaged in a constructive dialogue with the ANC regarding the current budget impasse. The government of national unity has been divided, with the DA and Freedom Front Plus rejecting Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s fiscal policy framework, due to the proposed 0.5-percent VAT increase. GOOD’s secretary general, Brett Herron, says they believe the ANC is genuinely committed to finding alternative sources of revenue to avoid the VAT hike:

# AfriForum has submitted an urgent request to national police commissioner, Fannie Masemola, to classify farm attacks as a national priority crime under the Police Act. The group argues farm attacks are highly organised, violent, and impactful on national stability, requiring Hawks-level investigation. AfriForum’s Jacques Broodryk calls for a dedicated task team to tackle rural crime and protect vulnerable farming communities:

# KwaZulu-Natal Director of Public Prosecutions, Elaine Harrison, has decided to reopen the inquest into the deaths of former ANC president, Chief Albert Luthuli, and lawyer and anti-apartheid activist, Griffiths Mxenge. Luthuli, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, died in July 1967. The official report stated that he was hit by a train near Gledthrow station in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal. The NPA’s spokesperson, Natasha Ramkisson-Kara, says Mxenge was found dead on a sports field in Umlazi in November 1981:

# The United Nations says more than three years on from the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, Ukrainian civilians continue to face the devastating consequences of war. In March alone, 164 Ukrainians were killed and 910 injured, representing a 50-percent spike in civilian casualties from the previous month. The UN’s Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine says indiscriminate attacks are prohibited under international humanitarian law. It adds that there must be limits to how war is waged.

# Golf: Defending Masters champion, American Scottie Scheffler, will play alongside compatriot Justin Thomas and Spain’s Jose Luis Ballester when the first major of the year tees off at Augusta National in Georgia today. Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy, who is aiming to become just the sixth man to complete a career Grand Slam, is grouped with Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and American Akshay Bhatia. Three South Africans are in the 95-man field: former champion Charl Schwartzel, Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Thriston Lawrence.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-36-cents and the euro at 21-rand-24-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-84-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-71-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-117-dollars-98-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-47-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….