News 11:00

BULLETIN 23 July 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The deputy Finance minister emphasises the importance of the Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill
# Barack Obama rejects Donald Trump’s allegations of a coup during the 2016 election
# And Qatar wants to host the 2036 Olympic Games

# Deputy Finance minister, David Masondo, says the debt relief programme has provided Eskom with an enabling balance sheet to spend more money in improving the power utility’s capacity to supply electricity. The National Assembly passed the Eskom Debt Relief Amendment Bill yesterday. The bill is the latest piece of legislation that allows debt transfer between Eskom and the state, with the state taking over 250-million-rand worth of the utility’s debt. Masondo says the bill is a lifeline for Eskom:

Meanwhile, the DA is demanding that the Eskom board and executives appear before Parliament to account for the one-billion-rand court-ordered payment to the French nuclear company, Framatome. The court ruled that Eskom was at fault for ordering work to stop on the replacement of three steam generators at the Koeberg nuclear power station in Cape Town. The DA’s Kevin Mileham says this disaster is part of a wider pattern of financial mismanagement at Eskom:

# The MK Party is demanding the immediate resignation of KwaZulu-Natal Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane, and Education MEC, Sipho Hlomuka. Simelane’s family business, Kwazi-Gugu Investments, allegedly received duplicated payments totalling 1.42-million-rand from the provincial Department of Agriculture. Hlomuka allegedly handpicked service providers for the National School Nutrition Programme, which has been tainted by procurement manipulation. MK says the Hawks and the Public Protector must launch urgent investigations into all public funds received by Kwazi-Gugu Investments, and any other entities linked to the two MECs.

Moving abroad:

# Former US president Barack Obama has rejected president Donald Trump’s accusations that he tried to engineer a coup following his 2016 election victory. Trump claimed Obama had sought to undermine his victory over Hillary Clinton by manufacturing evidence of Russian interference. Obama says he normally does not dignify the constant nonsense and misinformation flowing out of the White House with a response, but these claims are outrageous enough to merit one. He says these bizarre allegations are ridiculous and a weak attempt at distraction.

# Olympic Games: Qatar is interested in hosting the Summer and Paralympic Games of 2036. The country’s Olympic Committee is currently discussing the election process with the International Olympic Committee, saying it wants to showcase the potential of Arab youth on the global stage after hosting the 2022 Soccer World Cup. Sky Sports reports the Gulf nation could face a challenge from neighbouring country Saudi Arabia, which is staging the soccer tournament in 2034, while India may also be interested.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-58-cents and the euro at 20-rand-65-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-80-cents and Bitcoin trades at 118-thousand-520-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-427-dollars-58-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-31-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….