News 06:00

BULLETIN 29 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Millions of South Africans head to voting stations today
# President Ramaphosa extends the deployment of the Defence Force to preserve law and order
# And rugby: SA Rugby expects an even better World Rugby Under 20 championship this year

# Millions of South Africans will vote today in the country’s most important election since 1994. This follows two days of special votes. Each voter will receive three ballot papers – a blue one for the National Assembly, an orange ballot paper for regional to National Assembly, and a pink one for the Provincial Legislature. Reporter Andries Cornelissen has more details on the 27.7-million registered voters:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has authorised the deployment of two-thousand-828 members of the South African National Defence Force to assist the police. This is for the prevention and combating of crime, and the maintenance and preservation of law and order during the elections. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says the expenditure for this employment is estimated at over 59-million-rand:

# The Special Investigating Unit has welcomed the Supreme Court of Appeal’s decision to dismiss former SABC CEO Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s bid to avoid paying 11.5-million-rand to the public broadcaster. The SCA rejected his bid for leave to appeal against a judgement of the High Court in Johannesburg. In 2021, he was ordered to return a success fee received for brokering a MultiChoice deal, which the court termed unlawful and invalid. The SIU says this paves the way for the unit to continue with the processes to recover the money.

# Three men from Soshanguve South accused of fatally shooting five-year-old Ditebogo Phalane have abandoned bail. Elia Moeko, Ali Sithole, and Nido Gumbe appeared at the Pretoria North Magistrate’s Court facing charges of murder and robbery. Gumbe, a Mozambican national, also faces an immigration charge. The accused disclosed they had pending cases. NPA regional spokesperson, Lukmka Mahanjana says the matter is postponed to 27 August 2024 for further investigations:

# Pope Frances has issued an apology after reportedly using an extremely derogatory term to describe gay men. He used a word described as a highly offensive slur when he said during the Italian bishops’ conference gay men shouldn’t be allowed to train for the priesthood. The Vatican says in a statement although it was a private meeting, the pontiff didn’t mean to offend anyone. It points out Frances has stated on more than one occasion that the Catholic Church has room for everyone.

# Rugby: SA Rugby expects an even better World Rugby Under 20 championship this year. The tournament returns to the Western Cape from the end of next month, with the world’s top 12 teams doing battle in the Danie Craven Stadium in Stellenbosch, the Cape Town Stadium and the Athlone Stadium in Cape Town. The Junior Springboks begin their campaign against Fiji on 29 June. SA Rugby’s CEO, Rian Oberholzer, says it’s a great privilege to host the next generation of superstars.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-29-cents and the euro at 19-rand-86-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-35-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-392-dollars-33-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-358-dollars-8-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-17-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….