News 18:00

BULLETIN 29 July 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Dean Macpherson hands an oxygen tender corruption report to the Hawks for a criminal investigation
# The US government finds that farm attacks are not ordinary crimes
# And the citrus industry urges Ramaphosa to intervene as US tariff threatens exports

# Public Works and Infrastructure minister, Dean Macpherson, has handed over a damning report on an 800-million-rand oxygen plants tender to the Hawks for criminal investigation. The report, compiled by PricewaterhouseCoopers, exposed fraud, irregular procurement, and governance failures by the Independent Development Trust. Macpherson told the media that one company, Bulkeng, was awarded contracts worth 428-million-rand using a fraudulent South African Health Products Regulatory Authority licence:

# AfriForum urges president Cyril Ramaphosa to take a firm stance on farm attacks. This follows a US government report that says farm attacks in South Africa are not normal crimes. The report criticised politicians for their silence, highlighting rising farm murders and inadequate police response. AfriForum’s Jacques Broodryk called on Ramaphosa to publicly condemn the ‘Kill the Boer’ chant and prioritise farm attacks to protect rural communities and restore law and order:

Meanwhile, the Citrus Growers’ Association warns that South Africa’s citrus industry faces massive losses if a new 30-percent US import tariff takes effect on Friday. The association says approximately one-thousand hectares of orchards could become unviable, jeopardising thousands of jobs in the Western and Northern Cape, as over seven-million cartons of citrus are exported to the US annually. The association urges Ramaphosa to intervene and secure an extension or exemption, warning the tariff could collapse the rural economy and disrupt the citrus supply chain.

# The DA in Gauteng has called on Education MEC Matome Chiloane to stop what it terms the persecution of Pretoria High School for Girls principal, Philippa Erasmus. The party’s provincial spokesperson on Education, Sergio Isa dos Santos, says Erasmus was unfairly found guilty on a charge after her husband volunteered landscaping services. He accuses the department of pursuing a political vendetta and urges a reversal of the decision to restore fair governance:

# Cricket: Mitchell Santner will captain New Zealand in the first Test against Zimbabwe, starting in Bulawayo tomorrow, while Tom Latham is still nursing a shoulder injury. The opening batter will stay with the squad with the hope to be ready for the second Test, starting next Thursday, also in Bulawayo. Santner led the Black Caps to the title in the recent T20 tri-series against Zimbabwe and South Africa. This is New Zealand’s first Test series in Zimbabwe since 2016.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-71-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 118-thousand-313-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-322-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….