News 11:00

BULLETIN 9 April 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Malatsi says government is working to make the SA Post Office financially stable
# The MK Party launches a legal bid over Batohi’s decision to withdraw charges against Johan Booysen and Johannes van Tonder
# And motorsport: F1 technical chiefs will meet over possible tweaks to the new regulations

# Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, says his department is exploring public-private partnerships as a way to strengthen the South African Post Office and make it financially stable. After years in business rescue, roughly 350-million-rand is required to keep it alive for another six months. The business rescue practitioners said without funding, they are legally obliged to pursue liquidation, something Malatsi told the SABC they are working to avoid:

# The MK Party has launched another legal bid against former National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi. It wants the 2019 decision to withdraw racketeering charges against former KwaZulu-Natal Hawks head, Johan Booysen and co-accused Johannes van Tonder set aside. MK deputy president, John Hlophe, argues before the High Court in Pretoria that Batohi based her decision on a panel report, without any independent assessment of the evidential record. He says the National Prosecuting Authority should also not have concluded settlement agreements with the two.

# The Public Servants Association is calling on the Department of Health to strengthen support systems for medical interns and healthcare workers. This follows the death of a young doctor at Rob Ferreira Hospital in Mbombela, Mpumalanga. The intern was found dead in his apartment on Sunday, with the cause of death still unknown. The PSA’s Nomfundo Mlangeni says the incident highlights the need for better mental health support in high-pressure environments.

Moving abroad:

# US vice president JD Vance says it would be dumb for Iran to jeopardise the two-week ceasefire with Washington over Israel’s attacks in Lebanon. Yesterday’s wave of strikes killed at least 182 people. The US and Israel have insisted Lebanon is not part of the ceasefire agreement, but Iran disagrees. Mediator Pakistan said explicitly Lebanon is included in the agreement. Vance says there has been a legitimate misunderstanding:

# Motorsport: Senior technical figures from Formula One teams and power unit manufacturers are meeting today to discuss possible changes to the new regulations introduced this season. This will be the first of three meetings. Some drivers have criticised the introduction of new power-unit regulations, which see a 50-percent split between electrical output and internal combustion engine output. The governing International Automobile Federation says any potential adjustments, particularly those related to energy management, require careful simulation and detailed analysis.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-43-cents and the euro at 19-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-1-cent and Bitcoin trades at 71-thousand-73-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-715-dollars-63-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 94-dollars-72-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….