News 06:00

BULLETIN 31 March 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Lamola says South Africa will not compromise on its policies
# The EFF rejects misleading information regarding the VAT increase
# And a verdict is expected in Marine Le Pen’s embezzlement case

# ANC national executive committee member and International Relations minister, Ronald Lamola, says South Africa will not succumb to pressure from the United States regarding its domestic and foreign policies. This comes as US-South Africa relations are at their most strained since president Donald Trump came into office in January. Speaking on the last day of the NEC meeting in Boksburg, Gauteng on Sunday, Lamola emphasised the country’s commitment to its sovereignty and transformative policies:

# The EFF says it rejects what it describes as the unsolicited, biased, misleading, and illogical reasoning presented by Standing Committee on Finance chairperson, Joe Maswanganyi. He mentioned that the fiscal framework is separate from passing the revenue bill that will increase value-added tax and that voting on the fiscal framework is different. The EFF maintains that on Wednesday, when the National Assembly convenes a sitting to consider and adopt the fiscal framework, they will not have the necessary support.

# The Ministry of Police says it is actively investigating two separate rape cases involving minors in the Eastern Cape, stemming from incidents that occurred in October and November last year. In the first case, a minor was raped and a suspect was arrested and appeared in court in November last year. However, police are still busy compiling a DNA report. The ministry’s spokesperson, Kamogelo Mogotsi says in the second case, a minor from Bergview College was raped, with three individuals, including the school principal, identified as suspects:

# ActionSA in Gauteng says it will request provincial MEC for Health and Wellness, Nomantu Nkomo-Ralehoko to present an urgent plan to address the backlog of cancer patients’ treatment. The Gauteng High Court has interdicted the department from using the 250-million-rand which was allocated to address the backlog treatment. ActionSA’s Emma More says with over three-thousand patients on the backlog list, the department’s inaction could result in losses of lives:

# A French court is set to hand down its verdict today on the embezzlement case of far-right leader, Marine Le Pen, and 24 other party officials. They are accused of using money intended for European Union parliamentary aides to pay instead staff who worked for the party between 2004 and 2016. This violates the 27-nation bloc’s regulations. It found guilty Le Pen could face a five-year ban from running for office, ruling her out of standing again for president in 2027.

# Golf: South Africa’s Michael Hollick carded a final round 8-under 64 to win the season-ending DNi Tour Championship by one-shot over Jacques Kruyswijk and George Coetzee in Pretoria. Jonathan Broomhead finished fourth. Meanwhile, Daniel van Tonder was crowned the winner of the Sunshine Tour Order of Merit for the 2024/2025 season, and Altin van der Merwe won the Fortress Rookie of the Year award. Hollick says it has been a special year:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-41-cents and the euro at 19-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-82-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-220-dollar-20-cents. Gold sells at three-thousand-89-dollars-17-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-72-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….