News 11:00

BULLETIN 22 August 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA accuses minister De Lille of protecting the suspended CEO of SA Tourism
# A top diplomat from the European Commission says Russian president Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted
# And rugby: Fassi will start against the Wallabies, replacing the injured Le Roux

# The DA condemns Tourism minister Patricia de Lille’s decision to dissolve SA Tourism’s board while ignoring accusations of impropriety levelled against the CEO. The minister and the board had reportedly locked horns over the board’s decision to institute disciplinary action against the entity’s now-suspended CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe. This was over a 4.1-million-rand prepayment to a service provider for work that was never done. The DA’s Haseena Ismail says De Lille is using her position to protect a rogue CEO:

# The FW de Klerk Foundation, which was one of six groups that boycotted last week’s national dialogue convention, says it remains unhappy with certain aspects of the process but wants to participate. The first convention gathered over 300 delegates from various sectors, focusing on themes like social cohesion, economic recovery, and governance reforms. The foundation’s Christo van der Rheede has emphasised the importance of active citizenry in a democracy. He says the foundations that boycotted the convention are set to meet with the eminent persons group to raise their concerns.

# The Gauteng Health Department says it is studying the court ruling regarding the provision of radiation and oncology services to cancer patients. Earlier this week, the Gauteng High Court ruled that the department has to abide by a previous order on radiation oncology services, pending the outcome of its appeal. In March, the court found that the department’s failure to develop and implement a plan to address the oncology backlog was unlawful. The department’s spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, says the backlog is being addressed:

Moving abroad:

# European Commission vice president, Kaja Kallas, warns that Russian president Vladimir Putin cannot be trusted to honour any promise or commitment. US president Donald Trump’s special envoy, Steve Witkoff, confirmed earlier this week that Putin agreed to allow America to provide Ukraine with robust security guarantees. Kallas told the BBC the security guarantees must be strong and credible enough to deter Russia from re-grouping and re-attacking. She adds the strongest security guarantee is a strong Ukrainian military:

# Rugby: Aphelele Fassi will start at fullback in the Springboks’ second Rugby Championship Test against the Wallabies in Cape Town tomorrow. This follows the withdrawal of Willie le Roux due to injury. He suffered the injury at training earlier this week and has not recovered in time. Fassi, who has 13 caps, started last week’s Test against the Wallabies in Johannesburg, where the Boks suffered a 38-22 defeat.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-70-cents and the euro at 20-rand-53-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-74-cents and Bitcoin trades at 113-thousand-128-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-333-dollars-42-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….