News 07:00

BULLETIN 1 April 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA welcomes the fuel levy decrease, bringing some relief to South Africans
# The City of Tshwane takes control with 15 new municipal water tankers
# And, the UN Human Rights chief calls on Israel to repeal the death penalty

# The DA has welcomed the three-rand fuel levy decrease that minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana has announced. The US and Israel’s war in Iran has ignited global panic, with the conflict spiking fuel prices to record highs. The Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has insisted the country’s fuel supply remains stable in the immediate term. The DA’s Mark Burke says they look forward to more details as to how this fuel levy relief will be funded:

Build One South Africa has meanwhile also welcomed Godongwana’s decision to reduce the general fuel levy by three-rand for April, to ease rising cost-of-living pressures. The move aims to ease rising transport costs for South Africans amid global oil price volatility linked to the US-Iran conflict. BOSA’s Roger Solomons says while the relief is welcome, long-term measures are needed to shield households from persistently high fuel prices.

# Parliament’s ad hoc committee says forensic investigator Paul O’Sullivan’s former assistant, Sarah-Jane Trent, was treated fairly during her testimony. Her lawyer requested that the committee declare her testimony invalid. In a letter to the committee, Trent says she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and did not conduct herself in the manner she would have wanted to when she appeared before it last month. Committee chairperson, Soviet Lekganyane, says Trent was never coerced into continuing with her testimony:

# The City of Tshwane has launched a water stabilisation plan aimed at restoring a reliable water supply and reducing reliance on outsourced water tanker services. As part of the intervention, 15 new municipal water tankers have been commissioned, boosting the city’s fleet to 41 vehicles. The focus is on fixing leaks and upgrading reservoirs and pump stations. Mayor Nasiphi Moya says the plan will ensure residents receive consistent water directly from the municipal network:

# United Nations Human Rights chief, Volker Türk, says Israel’s new law reinstating the death penalty, almost exclusively to Palestinians, is deeply discriminatory and must be repealed. Under the new law, passed in the Israeli Parliament on Monday, Palestinians in the occupied West Bank convicted by military courts of deadly attacks classified as terrorism will face the death penalty as a default sentence. Türk says the death penalty is profoundly difficult to reconcile with human dignity, and it raises the unacceptable risk of executing innocent people.

# Cricket: The Punjab Kings get their Indian Premier League campaign underway with a hard-fought three-wicket victory over the Gujarat Titans in New Chandigarh. Vyshak Kumar took three wickets as the Gujarat Titans were restricted to a modest 162 for six in their 20 overs. In reply, debutant Cooper Connolly scored an unbeaten 72 off 44 balls with Prabhsimran Singh scoring 37 to guide Punjab to victory with five balls to spare.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-87-cents and the euro at 19-rand-51-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-33-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-216-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-705-dollars-30-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 103-dollars-29-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….