News 08:00

BULLETIN 11 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa appoints a 32-member group to guide the National Dialogue
# The EFF says the dialogue is a meaningless publicity stunt
# And the Austria school shooting death toll climbs to 11

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says there is broad agreement that, given the challenges the country is facing, a National Dialogue should be convened. The president has appointed a 32-member Eminent Persons Group to guide and champion the National Dialogue Initiative in the country. They include former IEC chairperson, Brigalia Bam, former Constitutional Court judge, Edwin Cameron, Springbok captain, Siya Kolisi, and Former minister Roelf Meyer. Ramaphosa says he will be calling a National Convention on the 15th of August:

Meanwhile, the EFF says it views the pronouncement of a National Dialogue as a meaningless publicity stunt by Ramaphosa. The president says the dialogue will be a people-led, society-wide process to reflect on the state of the country in order to reimagine the future. The EFF says the challenges the dialogue seek to address are a product of man-made destruction and corruption of which the ANC has been at the centre.

# KwaZulu-Natal Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs MEC, Thulasizwe Buthelezi, says Eskom is working hard to restore power in multiple areas across the province after outages caused by heavy snow and strong winds. Six districts have been affected, with Ugu district the worst affected. According to Buthelezi, strong winds and hailstorms have damaged over 70 homes, leaving 14 people homeless and several injured, including four learners at Alberton Secondary School:

# The Austria school shooting death toll has risen to eleven after a victim died in the hospital. A gunman opened fire at a secondary school in the city of Graz on Tuesday, instantly killing ten people on the scene. The victims included children between 14 and 18-years-old. Authorities say the suspect, a 21-year-old Austrian who had previously attended the school, used a shotgun and a pistol to carry out the killing spree. He was found dead in a bathroom after the shooting. The gunman’s motive is still under investigation.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana easily defeated Mozambique 2-0 in an international friendly at the Peter Mokaba Stadium in Limpopo. Second-half goals from Sinoxolo Kwayiba and substitute Ashley Cupido secured the victory. South Africa will return to competitive action in September’s international window when they face Lesotho and Nigeria in key 2026 World Cup qualifiers. Coach Hugo Broos says they performed better than their goalless draw against Tanzania last Friday:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-69-cents and the euro at 20-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-84-cents and Bitcoin trades at 109-thousand-79-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-340-dollars-9-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-34-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….