News 16:00

BULLETIN 23 June 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ten more SANDF soldiers are arrested in connection with a Hawks officer’s murder
# Business Leadership SA applauds the Treasury for overhauling the anti-money laundering framework
# And rugby: The Wallabies won’t read too much into the Lions’ defeat against the Pumas

# Ten more South African National Defence Force members have been arrested in connection with the murder of Hawks officer Frans Mathipa, bringing the total number of accused to twelve. The ten handed themselves over to the Hawks in Johannesburg and are due to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court. Mathipa was fatally shot on the N1 near Hammanskraal, Pretoria, in August last year. He had been investigating the alleged abduction of a suspected ISIS leader, Abdella Abadiga.

# Business Leadership South Africa welcomes progress in meeting all Financial Action Task Force requirements to exit the grey list by October. The organisation says this will ease burdens on international transactions and rebuild investor confidence. In her weekly newsletter, CEO Busisiwe Mavuso praised the National Treasury for reversing the damage caused by state capture. Mavuso also warned that US tariffs could rise from ten- to 30-percent if no deal is reached at the US-Africa business summit in Angola, putting manufacturing and farming jobs at risk.

# Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke says persistent dysfunction in local government hinders South Africa’s economic growth. Speaking at the 1998 White Paper review, Maluleke urged municipalities to take audit outcomes seriously, linking poor financial management to service delivery failures. Maluleke warned that non-compliance and unreliable performance reports erode public trust and investment. She also called for renewed commitment to implement reforms, saying the 1998 White Paper was solid but never fully applied:

# Rugby: The Wallabies won’t read too much in the British and Irish Lions’ defeat to Argentina in their warm-up match for their tour of Australia. The Pumas won 28-24 in Dublin. Wallaby fullback Tom Wright says it was a pretty thrilling encounter with plenty of running rugby, while a lot of the Lions’ big names didn’t play. The visitors will start their tour against Western Force in Perth this coming Saturday. The first of the three Tests against the Wallabies will take place in Brisbane on 19 July.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-13-cents and the euro at 20-rand-78-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-26-cents and Bitcoin trades at 101-thousand-228-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-361-dollars-52-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-82-cents a barrel.

# And finally: An intense cold front is expected to hit the Western and the Northern Cape from Wednesday to Friday. South African Weather Service forecaster Lehlohonolo Thobela says as the system moves east, strong winds will also affect the Eastern Cape and inland provinces:

Stay tuned for more news………….