News 06:00

BULLETIN 19 April 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Cape Independence Party loses its bid to appear on the ballot paper
# The Public Protector has until today to file reasons for her decision on Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s bonus
# And the US and UK impose new sanctions against Iran

# The Cape Independence Party has expressed disappointment at the Electoral Court dismissing its challenge on why its name failed to appear on the final candidates’ list for the elections. The party was among five applicants who approached the court. Cape Independence Party leader, Jack Miller, says despite submitting a total of eleven-thousand-114 signatures to the Electoral Commission of South Africa, of which over seven-thousand-500 were registered voters in the Western Cape, the court still ruled against them:

# The Office of the Public Protector must submit the reasons today, as ordered by the High Court in Pretoria, for not paying former Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane a ten-million-rand gratuity. Delays in Mkhwebane’s urgent challenge stemmed from the office’s failure to provide crucial documents promptly. News24 reports, Judge Colleen Collis attributed the delay in the application’s readiness for hearing solely to the office’s actions. The court mandated the office to cover Mkhwebane’s costs on a punitive scale. Her application to challenge the non-payment of the gratuity will be determined in the coming weeks.

# Retired South African National Defence Force general, Mendis Eddy Mondlane, was granted ten-thousand-rand bail in the Pretoria Commercial Crime Court. NPA regional spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana says Mondlane and co-accused Mugisha Charles Mwali, faces allegations of tender irregularities worth two-million-rand. Mondlane faces three counts of fraud, while Mwali, director of Phomolo Enterprises, who awarded the contract in 2016, faces one fraud charge. She confirmed that Mwali is out of five-thousand-rand bail:

# Tshwane mayor Cilliers Brink says technical teams are working diligently to investigate the root cause of the Mooikloof substation fire. Parts of eastern Pretoria have been without power since Wednesday evening after one of the substation’s transformers caught fire and triggered a trip at Nyala in-feed station. Areas affected include parts of Moreleta Park Mooikloof, Pretoria East Hospital, and Woodhill as well as the Plastic View informal settlement. Brink says the damage is extensive therefore an estimated time of power restoration is unknown:

# The US and the UK have imposed new sanctions against Iran following its unprecedented large-scale drone and missile attack on Israel. Washington’s sanctions target 16 people and two companies that produce engines for Iran’s drones. The UK Foreign Office has imposed a travel ban and asset freeze on seven individuals and six entities, including those involved in drone and missile programmes. US president Joe Biden says leaders of the G7 group are committed to collectively increasing economic pressure on Iran.

# Cricket: Former Australian batter Stuart Law will prepare co-hosts America for the T20 World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean. The 55-year-old was appointed head coach after stints at Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, the Windies, and Afghanistan. He will start the preparations with a three-match T20 series at home against Bangladesh next month. The World Cup kicks off with the opening match between America and Canada in Dallas on the second of June, and the final will be played in Bridgetown, Barbados, on the 29th.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-20-cents and the euro at 20-rand-42-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-985-dollars-73-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-394-dollars-7-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-2-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….