News 06:00

BULLETIN 3 April 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Trump has announced 30-percent tariffs on all South African exports
# Parliament has approved the 2025 budget
# And the DA will challenge the Parliament’s passing of the budget in court

# US president Donald Trump has announced tariffs of 30-percent on all South African exports to America, as part of his new global tariffs. More in our next bulletin.

# The National Assembly has adopted and passed the 2025 fiscal framework for the national budget. A total of 194 members of Parliament voted in favour including the ANC, ActionSA, and IFP, while 182 voted against including the DA, EFF, MK, FF Plus, and some smaller parties. A proposed value-added tax increase tabled by Finance minister Enoch Godongwana in the budget speech has been the bone of contention. ANC chief whip, Mdumiseni Ntuli, says the work of government must now continue:

Meanwhile, the DA says it will file papers in the Western Cape High Court today to challenge Parliament’s passing of the 2025/2026 national budget among other things. The DA’s, Willie Aucamp, says they have vehemently opposed Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget proposal including the value-added tax hike. He says they negotiated for amendments that would have ensured economic growth and job creation because that is what South Africa needs:

# Public Works minister Dean Macpherson has welcomed the appointment of five new trustees to the Independent Development Trust, making the board fully quorate for the first time in 18 months. Macpherson urged them to elect a chairperson urgently and ensure full cooperation with a PwC investigation into the 800-million-rand Oxygen Plant tender. He emphasised restoring governance and accountability at the Independent Development Trust to drive economic growth and job creation through improved infrastructure delivery.

# The Gauteng Department of Health has filed for leave to appeal a judgment restricting its handling of 250-million-rand allocated for radiation oncology services. Spokesperson Motalatale Modiba says the department believes the appeal will clarify key issues. He says the department remains committed to ensuring access to healthcare for all:

# A global crackdown on a dark website, Kidflix, one of the largest child sexual exploitation platforms, has resulted in 79 arrests worldwide. The operation, supported by Europol, identified one-thousand-393 suspects and led to the seizure of over 91-thousand child sexual abuse videos. Kidflix, which had nearly two million users, allowed offenders to stream and share abusive material. The platform, active since 2021, was shut down following a joint investigation by law enforcement from 35 countries, with 39 children being protected as a result of the operation.

# Rugby: Ireland’s interim coach, Paul O’Connell, appointed Denis Leamy, Mike Prendergast, and Colm Tucker as his assistants for the coming Tests against Georgia and Portugal. O’Connell took over from Simon Easterby after the latter was seconded to the British and Irish Lions under full-time Irish coach Andy Farrell. Leamy has been Munster’s defence coach since 2022, Prendergast is Munster’s attack coach, and Tucker is Connacht’s scrum coach. The three assistants will link up with the national team at the end of the club season.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-94-cents and the euro at 20-rand-64-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-499-dollar-70-cents. Gold sells at three-thousand-158-dollars-56-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-81-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….