News 07:00

BULLETIN 15 October 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Constitutional Court will today hand down judgment in the ANC’s candidate list case
# A political analyst says Jacob Zuma’s trial could still face further delays
# And, a yellow level 2 warning for severe thunderstorms is issued for Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga

# The Constitutional Court will today hand down judgment in the ANC’s challenge to the Electoral Commission’s exclusion of candidate lists in six municipalities for the local government elections. The court will decide whether the ANC’s failure to click a final button on the IEC’s online system will keep 181 of its candidates off the ballot. The IEC’s Masego Sheburi says it will incur the costs of reprinting ballots in municipalities where the ANC and other parties that missed the filing deadline have to be included:

# Political analyst Levy Ndou says further delays cannot be ruled out in former president Jacob Zuma’s long-running arms deal corruption case, despite his decision not to pursue further appeals. The trial is set to begin on 1 February next year, after more than two decades of legal battles. Ndou says many people have been waiting for the matter to be heard in court but cautions new legal challenges could still emerge:

# Deputy minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Andries Nel, has expressed concern at the deadly Katlehong shooting ahead of the local government elections. Four people died in the shooting on Tuesday evening, including two ANC Youth League members, while three others are in hospital. A suspect has handed himself over to police, while the case is being investigated by the Gauteng Political Killings Task Team. Nel says parties and candidates must be able to campaign in a safe environment:

# Pope Leo’s recovery from surgery to remove a lower lobe of his lung is progressing as expected. The 71-year-old pontiff was diagnosed with pulmonary adenocarcinoma, a common type of lung cancer, during a 90-minute surgery in Rome on Tuesday, during which doctors removed the lower lobe of one of his lungs. His doctors say Pope Leo was able to walk around his quarters in the hospital and eat breakfast and lunch. The pontiff is expected to remain in the hospital for about a week as he recovers.

# Cricket: England decided to rest some players ahead of the Test series in South Africa, and they won’t take part in next month’s white-ball tour of Australia. The tour, starting on the 13th of November, will consist of three one-day matches and five T20s. It ends on 2 December, only a week before England’s warm-up match in South Africa before the start of the three-Test series against the Proteas. Thomas Rew and Eddie Jack can play their first matches for England in Australia.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-56-cents and the euro at 18-rand-56-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 81-thousand-527-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-138-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 106-dollars-13-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The South African Weather Service has issued a yellow level two warning for severe thunderstorms in parts of Gauteng, Limpopo and Mpumalanga this afternoon. The storms could bring heavy downpours, flash flooding, small hail, excessive lightning and strong, gusty winds. These conditions may cause damage to property and infrastructure, flooding on roads and in low-lying areas, and disruptions to municipal services.

Stay tuned for more news………….