News 06:00

BULLETIN 26 July 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Mandisa Maya is appointed as South Africa’s first female Chief Justice
# The ANC Youth League says Zizi Kodwa did the right thing by resigning as an MP
# And Olympic Games: The Blitzboks are through to the semifinals in Paris

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed deputy Chief Justice Mandisa Maya as South Africa’s first female Chief Justice with effect from the first of September. She will take over from the incumbent, Raymond Zondo, whose term in office expires at the end of next month. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says Maya’s appointment follows the president’s consultation with the Judicial Service Commission and the leaders of political parties represented in the National Assembly:

# The ANC Youth League says former Sport, Arts, and Culture minister Zizi Kodwa did the right thing by resigning as a member of Parliament. He is facing corruption charges for allegedly receiving around 1.6-million-rand from his co-accused, a former executive of the business technology company, EOH, Jehan Mackay, in exchange for an IT software tender. This was during his time as ANC national spokesperson between 2015 and 2016. The Youth League says Kodwa must focus on clearing his name and if found not guilty he can come back and serve.

# The GOOD Party says the City of Johannesburg’s approval of a 2.5-billion-rand loan from the French Development Bank places an unnecessary financial burden on residents. The loan, supported by ActionSA, the DA, and the ANC, was opposed by GOOD due to a lack of transparency and project plans. The party’s Matthew Cook argues the loan violates the Municipal Finance Management Act and is a result of transactional politics:

# Europe’s top rights court has ruled a French law criminalising clients of prostitutes does not infringe on the European Convention on Human Rights. A group of 261 men and women sex workers had turned to the European Court of Human Rights over the 2016 law, which threatens buyers of sex with fines of up to 30-thousand-rand, which can be more than doubled for repeat offenders. The rarely-enforced law was hailed as a major step forward by campaigners hoping to eliminate prostitution.

# Olympic Games: The Springbok Sevens are through to the semifinals in Paris after beating Tokyo 2020 Olympic finalists New Zealand 14-7 in the quarterfinals. The Blitzboks raced into a 14-nil first-half lead, courtesy of captain Selvyn Davids’s and Tristan Leyds’s tries. New Zealand hit back just before the break. The second half saw a wave of New Zealand attack, but the Blitzboks’ defence held firm. South Africa will face France in the medal semifinals tomorrow. Coach Philip Snyman praised his team’s performance:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-34-cents and the euro at 19-rand-91-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-60-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-678-dollars-32-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-363-dollars-21-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-39-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A shipment of champagne found in a wreck off the coast of Sweden is suspected to have been destined for a Russian tsar. The wreck of the 19th Century sailing ship was located in the Baltic Sea recently, with divers counting over 100 bottles of bubbly inside. Leader of Polish diving group Baltitech, Tomasz Stachura, told the BBC the find was a treasure. The clay bottles with the brand name of German company Selters helped the group to date the wreck to between 1850 and 1867.

Stay tuned for more news………….