News 12:00

BULLETIN 22 April 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The IEC says the preparations for the local government elections are ahead of schedule
# Soccer: A new batch of World Cup tickets go on sale today
# And the Garden Route is named the world’s best road trip

# The Electoral Commission says it is comfortably ahead of schedule with the technical preparations for the local government elections. It has been allocated just over 3.1-billion-rand for the 2026/27 financial year, and expects to spend 4.7-billion-rand, which leaves a 1.6-billion-rand deficit. This will be partly offset by a 1.1-billion-rand rollover from the previous year, pending approval from National Treasury. CEO Sy Mamabolo says they will deliver free and fair elections:

# Forum for South Africa is calling on president Cyrill Ramaphosa to suspend national police commissioner Fannie Masemola. He appeared in the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court yesterday on charges linked to an irregularly-awarded 360-million-rand tender to controversial businessman Vusimuzi ‘Cat’ Matlala’s company, Medicare24. FOSA leader Tebogo Mashilompane says Masemola’s continued presence in office under a cloud of serious allegations represents a collapse of leadership standards:

Moving abroad:

# Taiwan’s president, Lai Ching-te, has cancelled his trip to Eswatini, where he was set to attend the 40th anniversary of King Mswati the Third’s accession. He accused China of putting pressure, including economic coercion, on the Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar to revoke ‌permission for his aircraft to fly over their territories. Taiwan’s presidential office says coercing countries to change their decisions through intimidation violates international rules and undermines the regional status quo. Eswatini, formerly known as Swaziland, is Taiwan’s only diplomatic ally in Africa.

# Soccer: World governing body FIFA says over five million tickets have already been sold for the World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico, kicking off on 11 June. A new batch of tickets to all 104 matches is going on sale today. FIFA says, subject to availability, additional tickets will be released on an ongoing basis until the final on 19 July. The World Cup is on track to surpass the all-time attendance record of 3.5 million set during the 1994 tournament in the US.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-44-cents and the euro at 19-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 78-thousand-57-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-754-dollars-58-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 94-dollars-69-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Garden Route in the Western and Eastern Cape has been ranked the world’s best road trip by Autotrader in a global study assessing scenery, road quality, weather, and driving experience. SANParks spokesperson JP Louw says the route includes the Wilderness, Knysna, and Tsitsikamma sections of the Garden Route National Park. He says visitors can explore forests, rivers, coastlines, and wildlife, with activities such as canoeing, hiking and coastal walks:

Stay tuned for more news………….