News 18:00

BULLETIN 5 May 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile urges investment in Africa’s heritage
# The Freedom Front Plus backs calls to reform or scrap the NSFAS
# And, Pete Hegseth warns Iran against overwhelming and devastating American firepower

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile says Africa must treat heritage as an economic driver. Speaking at African World Heritage Day and the 20th anniversary of the African World Heritage Fund, Mashatile highlighted growth in heritage sites and skills development. Mashatile warned many sites remain underfunded and called for stronger partnerships and investment. He says heritage can boost tourism, create jobs and support development if properly managed and integrated into economic planning:

# The Freedom Front Plus says the fact that the National Student Financial Aid Scheme has again been placed under administration due to governance failures, highlights deep systemic problems. The party’s Wynand Boshoff calls for a full overhaul of the system. He says the Minister of Finance, Enoch Godongwana, has previously suggested it could be scrapped and replaced with a system involving banks:

# The DA calls for an independent audit into rape cases following concerns over inconsistencies in police figures. According to the party, the South African Police Service admitted that 837 rape cases were closed in the past three financial years because victims could not be traced. It argues this reflects deeper failures in managing gender-based violence. The DA’s Lisa Schickerling says urgent reforms are needed to restore public trust and ensure justice for survivors:

# The US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth held a briefing on the Iran war at the Pentagon in Washington, DC earlier today. Hegseth said the operation to protect commercial ships in the Strait of Hormuz was temporary and the four-week-old ceasefire was not over. He said right now the ceasefire certainly holds, but they will be watching the situation very closely. He warned Iran if they attack American troops and commercial shipping, they will face overwhelming and devastating American firepower:

# Soccer: Millions of fans in India and China face uncertainty over watching World Cup matches due to a deadlock over broadcast rights in the world’s two most populous countries. World governing body FIFA rejected a joint venture in India’s offer of 335-million-rand for broadcast rights. No deal had been announced yet for China, which accounted for just under half of all hours of viewing on digital and social media platforms during the previous tournament in 2022. Reuters reports FIFA had concluded broadcast agreements in over 175 territories.  

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-64-cents against the rand and the euro at 19-rand-47-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-56-cents and Bitcoin trades at 81-thousand-344-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-578-dollars-38-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 109-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….