News 06:00

BULLETIN 14 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The parliamentary chief whips agree to establish a 31-member impeachment committee
# South Africa’s manufacturing production increased by 0.9-percent in March
# And rugby: Eddie Jones is suspended for six weeks after an outburst in Australia

# National Assembly speaker, Thoko Didiza, met with the Chief Whips Forum yesterday, and presented proposals on the impeachment committee. The Constitutional Court last Friday ruled Parliament acted unconstitutionally when it voted against the Section 89 panel report, which recommended that an impeachment committee be established against president Cyril Ramaphosa. This is to look into a prima facie case against Ramaphosa concerning the theft of money at his Phala Phala farm in 2020. The forum has agreed on a 31-member committee, with the ANC holding the most seats, nine.

# Freedom Front Plus says a Special Investigating Unit report has exposed widespread corruption and irregularities in land reform projects, with more than 654-million-rand in contracts and decisions declared invalid. The report, presented to Parliament, also found weak oversight, poor record-keeping, and dishonest officials as key drivers of systemic failures. The FF Plus’s Wynand Boshoff says the findings show the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development is undermining land restitution efforts:

# Statistics South Africa says manufacturing production rose by 0.9-percent in March compared with the same period last year. The increase was driven mainly by gains in food and beverages, petroleum and chemical products, and electrical machinery. However, the wood, paper, publishing, and printing sector recorded a decline. Stats SA’s Nicolai Claassen says manufacturing sales increased by 1.6-percent in March, showing slow but steady improvement in the sector:

# The Madlanga Commission has heard that SAPS warrant officer, Boy Phakula, lodged a complaint with the Independent Police Investigative Directorate against Crime Intelligence head Feroz Khan. This is related to the alleged theft of drugs and defeating the ends of justice following the Aeroton drug bust of 715-kilograms of cocaine. Responding to Commissioner Sesi Baloyi, Phakula admitted he did not formally accuse Khan of owning the drugs, as he had no evidence:

# The South Carolina Supreme Court has overturned disgraced lawyer Alex Murdaugh’s murder convictions and ordered a new trial. The 56-year-old was convicted by a jury for the July 2021 murders of his wife, Maggie, and son Paul in March 2023, and received two life sentences. The Supreme Court said Murdaugh deserved a new trial because the local county clerk, Becky Hill, had unfairly biased a jury against him. Attorney General Alan Wilson stated that his office plans to retry Murdaugh on the murder charges.

# Rugby: Japan’s national team will be without head coach Eddie Jones for the next six weeks after he was suspended for abusing match officials during the under-23s tour of his home country of Australia last month. The Japanese governing body says the 66-year-old was banned for a very serious matter. He will miss the Nations Championship Test against Italy in early July, two matches against Hong Kong China and one against the Maori All Blacks. Jones accepted his punishment and says he deeply regrets his behaviour.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-38-cents and the euro at 19-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-17-cents and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-367-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-700-dollars-5-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 102-dollars-96-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….