News 08:00

BULLETIN 22 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA wants minister Motshekga fired over the Iran diplomacy debacle
# The Constitutional Court has reserved judgment in the rand manipulation case
# And the Trump administration is reviewing over 55-million US visa holders for possible violations

# The DA is calling for Defence and Military Veterans minister Angie Motshekga to be fired for defending SANDF chief, Rudzani Maphwanya, after his unsanctioned diplomacy in Iran. The party’s Chris Hattingh says by endorsing his misconduct, Motshekga undermined civilian oversight of the military. The DA believes her shielding of Maphwanya, who pledged political ties with Tehran, makes her unfit for office and harms South Africa’s global credibility:

# The Constitutional Court has reserved judgement in the Competition Commission’s case against banks accused of manipulating the rand against the US dollar. The case stems from allegations that 28 local and international banks colluded to rig the rand between 2007 and 2013. The commission is making an appeal to the apex court to overturn a previous judgment that excluded foreign banks from the rand rigging case. The commission’s Makgale Mohlala says jurisdiction is clear: if conduct impacts the South African economy, local regulators must act:

# ActionSA in Gauteng says it is concerned by Emfuleni Municipality’s latest plea for the National Treasury to once again write off a portion of its Eskom debt. The municipality owed the power utility eight-billion-rand, but after applying for the debt relief programme, Treasury wrote off nearly two-billion-rand of this debt. Emfuleni believes it meets Treasury’s criteria to qualify for another debt write-off. ActionSA’s spokesperson, Zwelithini Mtshali, says the municipality continues to exhibit fiscal irresponsibility and governance failures:

# The US State Department is reviewing over 55-million foreigners who hold valid US visas for potential revocation or deportable violations of immigration rules. This move comes as the administration announced earlier this week that it would begin looking for anti-American views, including on social media, when assessing applications for American citizenship and other immigration benefits. The department says it was looking for indicators of ineligibility, including visa overstays, criminal activity, threats to public safety, engaging in any form of terrorist activity, or providing support to a terrorist organisation.

# Golf: American Russell Henley shot a nine-under-par 61 to secure a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta. Henley’s compatriot world number one Scottie Scheffler, bidding to become the first player to defend the Tour Championship title successfully, is second at seven under. One stroke further back in a tie for third are Americans Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, and British hopefuls Robert MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood. Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy is tied for eighth on four under.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-71-cents and the euro at 20-rand-55-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 113-thousand-185-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-333-dollars-72-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-2-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….