News 07:00

BULLETIN 27 August 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# AfriForum’s application against Hlophe gains momentum
# COPE is calling for the Justice minister to resign
# And rugby: The Boks have a potential lock crisis

# The Constitutional Court has approved AfriForum’s application regarding impeached judge John Hlophe’s appointment to the Judicial Services Commission. AfriForum seeks to have Hlophe’s appointment declared unlawful. The Speaker of Parliament and Hlophe must submit affidavits by 30 August. AfriForum CEO Kallie Kriel views the court’s directives as a positive step toward challenging the appointment, which they argue undermines judicial credibility:

# The Congress of the People demands Justice minister Thembi Simelane resign or president Cyril Ramaphosa dismiss her immediately. This follows reports that the minister allegedly took a loan of more than half-a-million rand from the same company that facilitated some 349-million-rand worth of unlawful municipal investments into VBS Mutal Bank. This was during her tenure as mayor of Polokwane. COPE says law enforcement agencies must arrest Simelane immediately for corruption and money laundering.

# The legal team of Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant Moroadi Cholota intends to file an amended notice of motion today. This comes after the Free State High Court dismissed with costs her application to have her arrest and extradition from the US declared unlawful and unconstitutional. Cholota was released on two-thousand-500-rand bail on the 15th of this month. Her lawyer Piet Tibane told Newzroom Afrika that the state did not deal with the merits of the case:

# The City of Tshwane has efficiently utilised 96-percent of government grants and subsidies for the 2023/24 financial year. Mayoral committee member for Finance Jacqui Uys says operational grants of five-billion-rand were 98.1-percent spent, while 93.4-percent of the 1.7-billion-rand allocated for capital projects was utilised. Uys says this marks a significant improvement in financial governance, with funds supporting public services and infrastructure projects, including road upgrades, water infrastructure, and social housing. She says the city’s leadership remains committed to community-focused projects.

# Ukraine president Volodymyr Zelenskyy has called on Western allies including the US, Britain, and France, to let Kyiv use their weapons to strike deeper inside Russia. This comes after at least six people were killed after Moscow launched a massive attack across Ukraine, seriously damaging some power and water supplies. Kyiv can use some Western weapons to hit targets inside Russia, but not long-range weapons. Zelenskyy says they could do much more to protect lives if European air forces worked with Ukraine’s air defence.

# Rugby: The Springboks have a potential crisis at lock after the news Eben Etzebeth may be forced to miss Saturday’s first Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. This follows the injury to RG Snyman, while Salmaan Moerat isn’t available because of head-injury assessment protocol. Lood de Jager, Franco Mostert, and Jean Kleyn are also injured. Assistant coach Deon Davids says luckily they have players such as Pieter-Steph du Toit and Ben-Jason Dickson who can fill the void.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-70-cents and the euro at 19-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-156-dollars-22-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-507-dollars-19-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….