News 09:00
BULLETIN 20 March 9 am
Good morning. I am……..
In this bulletin:
# The High Court will today rule on Zuma’s latest attempt to remove Billy Downer
# Canada will stop sending arms to Israel following a parliamentary vote
# And rugby: The struggling Crusaders receive another blow as Owen Franks is banned
# The Kwazulu-Natal High Court in Pietermaritzburg will today rule on former president Jacob Zuma’s latest bid to force the removal of the lead prosecutor in his arms-deal case, Billy Downer. This is the second attempt to remove Downer. The first, in a special plea, was rejected by former trial judge Piet Koen. Zuma instituted a private prosecution against Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan for allegedly leaking his medical records. The former president has accused Downer of prosecutorial bias and believes he won’t get a fair trial if he leads the state’s case.
# Cosatu has welcomed the National Council of Province’s adoption of the Expropriation Bill. The Western Cape was the only province that voted against the legislation, which was adopted with proposed amendments, that require the National Assembly to approve. One of the objectives of the bill is to expropriate land and property in the interest of the public. Cosatu’s, Matthew Parks, says president Cyril Ramaphosa must ignore opposition from hysterical fringe right-wing elements and sign the bill into law:
# Tshwane mayor, Cilliers Brink, says the improved qualified audit report and the audited financial statements have been published to enable public scrutiny. The mayor has been criticised for withholding the Auditor-General’s report and failing to make known the metro’s financial statements for 2022/2023 to the Johannesburg Stock Exchange at the end of January. Brink says the publishing of the documents demonstrates good fiscal governance:
# Canada will stop future arms exports to Israel after the country’s Parliament passed a non-binding motion on the issue. The motion was part of a larger vote calling on the international community to work toward a two-state solution and to resolve the conflict between Israel and Palestine. Following the vote, the Centre for Israel and Jewish Affairs lobby group called the outcome misguided and disingenuous. Canadian Foreign Affairs minister, Mélanie Joly, says this will also increase efforts to stop the illegal trade of arms, including to Hamas.
# Rugby: The Crusaders’ horrible season just got worse with the news veteran All Black prop, Owen Franks, will miss the defending champions’ next two Super Rugby games against the Blues and the Chiefs. He was suspended for two weeks for a dangerous head contact on Hurricanes forward Justin Sangster last week. The Crusaders, who won the competition seven times in a row, are still winless this season under new coach Rob Penney. They are already without injured Scott Barrett, Will Jordan, and Leigh Halfpenny.
# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-91-cents and the euro at 20-rand-56-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-269-dollars-63-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-158-dollars-91-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-22-cents a barrel.
Stay tuned for more news………….