News 17:00

BULLETIN 22 April 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF says the VAT hike violates the constitutional rights of the poor
# Netball Africa demands that World Netball lifts the provisional suspension of Netball SA’s president
# And Freedom Park launches the Beyond Borders Exhibition honouring 30 years of democracy

# The EFF has told the High Court in the Western Cape that the planned VAT increase set to come into effect next week, is unconstitutional and will worsen inequality. Arguing alongside the DA, the red berets say the hike violates the Bill of Rights and disproportionately affects the poor. The party’s legal representative, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, also criticised the public participation process, noting that 98-percent of submissions opposed the increase:

# City of Johannesburg speaker, Nobuhle Mthembu, has acknowledged a Sunday World article on the Public Protector’s probe into the appointment of Secretary to Council Andile Gobinca over his qualifications. Spokesperson Mzwandile Khathi says the speaker assures residents of full cooperation and transparency. She confirmed the speaker’s office is reviewing internal governance to uphold legal and ethical appointment standards while awaiting the preliminary report:

# Cosatu says Pope Francis’ papacy was transformative and his calls to tackle sexual abuse within the Catholic Church must continue to be carried through. The 88-year-old was the head of the Catholic Church since 2013 until his death yesterday. Cosatu’s spokesperson, Zanele Sabela, says the first non-European Pope in more than a millennium and first Latin American pontiff’ papacy was bound to be different from the start:

# Netball: Africa’s governing body reportedly instructed World Netball to lift Netball South Africa president Cecilia Molokwane’s provisional suspension. The world body launched an investigation over allegations of misusing Netball SA’s funds for her own personal gain before the 2023 World Cup in Cape Town, and the consistent bullying of staff and board members over the issue. Molokwane is also president of Africa Netball, which says her suspension is unwarranted. It demands proper procedures to determine if she has a case to answer to or not.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-57-cents and the euro at 21-rand-29-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-663-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-444-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-4-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Freedom Park in Pretoria has unveiled the Beyond Borders exhibition, celebrating three decades of South African democracy and Dutch-South African solidarity. The exhibition features artefacts from the apartheid era, and photographs from the collections of the International Institute of Social History, the South African History Archive, and the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The exhibition runs until the end of June.

Stay tuned for more news………….