News 07:00

BULLETIN 15 July 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Samwu begins with wage negotiations for workers in municipalities
# The director of the Secret Service is summoned to testify following Trump’s assassination attempt
# And tennis: Alcaraz is the Wimbledon men’s champion for a second successive year

# The South African Municipal Workers’ Union will commence with wage negotiations for workers in the country’s 257 municipalities. The union represents 160-thousand of the country’s nearly 300-thousand municipal workers. It is demanding an industry minimum wage of 15-thousand-rand, employers cover 70-percent of employees’ medical aid costs, and a three-thousand-rand housing allowance. Samwu says it remains optimistic and committed to securing better working conditions and salaries for workers.

# The General Industries Workers Union demands the timeous arrest of all those who knowingly and consciously participated in the shameful act of looting the VBS Mutual Bank and stealing from the poor. Giwusa’s spokesperson, Koketso Phasha, says the leaked affidavit by the bank’s former chairperson, Tshifhiwa Matodzi, implicates a lot of people who have not been held accountable. Phasha says the looting was done by people who had the intention of collapsing the bank:

# Gauteng MEC for Finance and Economic Development, Lebogang Maile, says in addition to increasing revenue collection, they have set their sights on establishing a provincial state bank and addressing high unemployment. The budget for the province is 500-billion-rand. Maile says the state bank’s chief objective would be to invest in projects that are characterised by low private sector investment and high social return:

# The minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, will be visiting areas affected by the adverse weather in the Western Cape today. The department’s spokesperson, Legadima Leso, says the severe weather has caused widespread flooding, displacement of communities, and considerable infrastructure damage. Leso adds that Hlabisa, through the National Disaster Management Centre, is responsible for promoting an integrated and coordinated system of disaster management in the country:

# Secret Service director, Kimberly Cheatle, has been summoned to testify before a committee of the US House of Representatives next week. This follows the attempted assassination of former president Donald Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Questions have been raised about how a sniper was able to obtain rooftop access not far from the former president’s position at the podium. Meanwhile, the Republican National Convention, where Trump will officially be nominated as the party’s presidential candidate ahead of November’s election, will go as planned this week.

# Tennis: Spain’s Carlos Alcaraz successfully defended his Wimbledon title, to win his fourth Grand Slam title. The 21-year-old beat seven-time champion Novak Djokovic of Serbia, 6-2, 6-2, 7-6. He joins a rare group of six players who have won at Roland Garros and Wimbledon in the same year. Twenty-four-time major winner Djokovic aimed to take sole ownership of the record for the most Grand Slam singles titles. Alcaraz says it is a dream for him to win Wimbledon again:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-98-cents and the euro at 19-rand-58-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-32-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-992-dollars-61-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-409-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….