News 06:00

BULLETIN 31 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Donald Trump is found guilty in his hush money trial
# The ANC remains in the lead nationally as the vote counting continues
# And Chief Justice Zondo gazettes the rules for the first parliamentary sitting to elect a president

# Former US president Donald Trump has been found guilty of all 34 counts of falsifying business records in his criminal trial in New York. This is the first time a former or serving US president has been convicted of a crime. Prosecutors accused Trump of concealing a payment made by his former lawyer to buy former adult film star Stormy Daniels’s silence shortly before the 2016 presidential election. He will be sentenced on the eleventh of July.

# With just over 50-percent of the votes counted, the ANC remains in the lead nationally at 42.34-percent. The DA is currently second at 23.38-percent and the MK Party at 10.77-percent. In Gauteng, the ANC leads with 33.57-percent followed by the DA at 29.31-percent and the EFF at 12.55-percent. In the hotly contested KwaZulu-Natal, MK is at 44.92-percent, the ANC second with 19.59-percent and the IFP at 18.16-percent. In the Western Cape, the DA leads with 54.63-percent of the votes followed by the ANC at 18.83-percent and the Patriotic Alliance at 9.32-percent.

Meanwhile, the Electoral Commission says it has lost a ballot box that went missing in transit from the voting station Matamzana Dube School in KwaZulu-Natal. The IEC’s general manager, Granville Abrahams, says the ballots in the box however have been counted, reconciled, and validated. He says it is inexcusable to lose any voting material:

# Chief Justice Raymond Zondo has gazetted the rules for the first parliamentary sitting that will elect the president. The notice outlines rules for swearing in MPs, and electing the president, speaker, and deputy speaker. The National Assembly must be established within 14 days of the IEC declaring election results. Zondo will oversee nominations and secret ballot votes for these positions. The newly-elected speaker will then preside until adjournment. The president must take office within five days of an election, followed by Cabinet appointments and the official opening of Parliament.

# The City of Tshwane says Bronkhorstspruit Water Treatment Plant experienced mechanical challenges with its raw water pumps, leading to an unplanned service interruption. The city’s spokesperson, Lindela Mashigo, says the maintenance contractor isolated one pump that was leaking badly. He says subsequently, another challenge developed with the second pump which has resulted in some areas experiencing low water pressure or no water at all:

# Rugby: The next season of the United Rugby Championship will kick off locally with two derbies. The Stormers will welcome the Bulls to Cape Town on the 21st of September, while the Sharks and the Lions will do battle in Durban. There will also be a return of the popular coastal encounters in December, with the Stormers playing the Lions and the Sharks, while the Bulls will travel to KwaZulu-Natal to meet the Sharks. The final will take place on the 14th of June next year.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-73-cents and the euro at 20-rand-29-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-85-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-483-dollars-55-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-345-dollars-2-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….