News 06:00

BULLETIN 3 November 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# At least 780-thousand votes were cast on the first day of special voting
# Two of the accused in the burglary at Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm are found guilty
# And polls show Democratic candidates are holding leads in five of the seven critical Senate races

# The Electoral Commission says at least 780-thousand South Africans were able to cast their ballots on the first day of special voting on Monday. More than 2.6 million voters are approved to cast their ballots ahead of the local government elections tomorrow. Briefing the media at the National Results Operation Centre in Midrand, Johannesburg, yesterday, IEC chief electoral officer Sy Mamabolo said the first day of special voting was relatively smooth, adding that he hopes to see even higher turnout figures today:

Meanwhile, Mamabolo says operations at voting stations will improve today and on election day tomorrow. A total of 217 voting stations in the Cape Town metro experienced delays in receiving ballot papers yesterday. In the North West, an election official collapsed and died while on duty. Mamabolo says all the issues have been dealt with:

# The ANC welcomes an Electoral Court judgment dismissing a challenge by two of its members to the party’s Eastern Cape candidate lists for Wednesday’s local government elections. The court found the applicants had not provided enough evidence to show that the party’s nomination process was seriously affected. ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu says the ruling means the submitted candidate lists remain unchanged:

# Two of the three accused in the theft of approximately ten-million-rand in cash from President Cyril Ramaphosa’s Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in February 2020 have been found guilty. The Modimolle Regional Court found Imanuwela David, the alleged mastermind behind the burglary, guilty of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal, theft and money laundering. The second accused, Floriana Joseph, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit housebreaking with intent to steal. The court acquitted the third accused, Ndilinasho David Joseph, of all charges.

# The final New York Times/Siena University surveys show Democrats leading in nearly all seven key battleground states deciding control of the US Senate. Ahead of today’s midterm elections, Democratic candidates hold the advantage in Michigan, Kansas, Maine, Ohio, and Texas, while the races in Alaska and Iowa remain close. In conservative Texas, Democrat James Talarico holds a 50-percent to 43-percent lead over Republican Ken Paxton in a state that has rejected statewide Democratic Senate candidates for nearly four decades. Republicans currently control both houses of Congress.

# Cricket: Kyle Verreynne, David Bedingham and Senurant Muthusamy won’t play for South Africa in the two-match Test series against Bangladesh at the Highveld from the middle of this month. Anrich Nortjé, Zubayr Hamza and Tony de Zorzi all return from injury. Coach Shukri Conrad says after the series victory over Australia, they will now focus on carrying that momentum into the series against Bangladesh. The first Test starts at the Wanderers in Johannesburg on the 15th and the second in Centurion on the 23rd.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-59-cents and the euro at 18-rand-45-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 76-thousand-685-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-948-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 108-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….