News 07:00

BULLETIN 16 May 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Paul Mashatile urges farmers to stay in South Africa
# IPID probes sexual assault allegations against a police college instructor
# And five Western Cape municipalities owe Eskom over 200-million-rand

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile says government is committed to working with farmers to address their challenges. He made an appearance at the NAMPO Harvest Day in the Free State on Thursday, one of the largest agricultural expos. This comes after president Cyril Ramaphosa visited the expo earlier this week, where he said the Afrikaners who left the country for the US were taking the cowardly way out. Mashatile says the farmers he met at NAMPO have no intentions of leaving the country:

# The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry has acknowledged reports of upcoming talks between president Cyril Ramaphosa and US president Donald Trump. SACCI CEO Alan Mukoki, urges South Africans to unite across all backgrounds and avoid divisive narratives. Emphasising the importance of a positive investment climate, Mukoki reminded citizens of South Africa’s strong constitutional democracy and Bill of Rights. He calls for alleged human rights violations to be reported to law enforcement for proper investigation and legal action.

# The Independent Police Investigative Directorate is investigating more possible sexual assault cases involving an instructor from the South African Police Service Training Academy in Pretoria West. The officer is accused of raping a trainee and allegedly threatening her with disciplinary action. IPID spokesperson Lizzy Suping says the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court has postponed the case to 23 May to allow further investigation:

# Western Cape Finance MEC Deidré Baartman has revealed that five municipalities in the province collectively owe Eskom over 200-million-rand. These are Matzikama, Cederberg, Theewaterskloof, Kannaland and Beaufort West. Baartman says the National Treasury has confirmed that four of these municipalities have met the conditions of the Municipal Debt Relief Programme. She says this will result in a 93.1-million debt write-off for the municipalities. Baartman added that the provincial Treasury is monitoring compliance with the conditions of the relief programme monthly.

# UK prime minister Keir Starmer says they are in talks with other countries to set up return hubs for asylum seekers who have had their application rejected. The proposals would apply only to asylum seekers whose claims had been rejected and who had no further routes of appeal in the UK. The number of people crossing the Channel has passed 12-thousand since January, putting 2025 on course to be a record year. Starmer says he sees the return hubs as an important innovation:

# Rugby: Springbok stalwart Manie Libbok returns from a lengthy injury and will wear the Stormers’ number 10 jersey in tonight’s final United Rugby Championship league match against Welsh outfit Cardiff in Cape Town. He replaces young national teammate Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who will start on the bench. Damian Willemse moves from centre to full-back in place of Warrick Gelant, who is getting rested, and Suleiman Hartzenberg will replace Leolin Zas on the wing in his 50th match for the home team.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-1-cents and the euro at 20-rand-17-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-97-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-91-dollar-50-cents. Gold sells at three-thousand-224-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-52-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….