News 07:00

BULLETIN 5 May 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa calls for improved service delivery in municipalities
# The IEC chairperson is encouraged by a constructive engagement with the MK Party
# And, the United Arab Emirates says it has the right to respond to Iran’s latest attacks

# President Cyril Ramaphosa is calling for improved service delivery and a shift in municipal management. He participated in the ANC’s National Working Committee visit to the Nelson Mandela Region in the Eastern Cape on Monday. The visit forms part of a nationwide programme to monitor progress in service delivery across metropolitan municipalities. Ramaphosa emphasised that towns and cities need to be better taken care of:

# The Electoral Commission chairperson, Mosotho Moepya, says he is encouraged by the level of constructive engagement with the MK Party. The IEC and the MK Party, including leader Jacob Zuma, met in KwaZulu-Natal yesterday. The MK Party has proposed postponing the elections until their grievances from the 2024 general elections are addressed. Moepya says the meeting concluded with no issues being resolved, and further talks will be held leading up to the elections:

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says there are serious governance problems at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme. It follows reports that several board members have resigned since July last year, raising concerns about whether the board can still function properly and meet its legal duties. OUTA’s Rudie Heyneke warns that the loss of key financial expertise and delays in leadership appointments and decision-making are weakening oversight of the 50-billion-rand institution:

# The Special Investigating Unit has uncovered a major land fraud case in Ekurhuleni involving the illegal sale of 221 municipal properties in Villa Liza, valued at around 58-million-rand. News24 reports that over 200 cases have been referred to the National Prosecuting Authority, with additional referrals to the Legal Practice Council, South African Revenue Service, and the Financial Intelligence Centre for further investigation. The SIU says the properties were transferred using fraudulent documents without municipal approval between 2019 and 2024.

# The United Arab Emirates says it reserves the full and legitimate right to respond to the renewed Iranian attacks targeting civilian sites and facilities in the country using missiles and drones. The UAE intercepted three missiles fired from Iran over its territorial waters on Monday, with a fourth one crashing into the sea. A fire also broke out at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone following an alleged drone attack originating from Tehran, wounding three Indian nationals. The UAE says these attacks constitute a dangerous escalation and an unacceptable transgression.

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner will be chasing a record-extending sixth consecutive ATP Masters one-thousand crown at the Italian Open. He will begin his campaign against Alex Michelsen or Sebastian Ofner. Sinner also has Felix Auger-Aliassime, Ben Shelton, and Daniil Medvedev in his half of the draw. In the bottom half of the draw, six-time champion Novak Djokovic will make his return after more than six weeks out and will start against Marton Fucsovics or a qualifier. Lorenzo Musetti and Casper Ruud are also in Djokovic’s draw.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-80-cents and the euro at 19-rand-63-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-72-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-208-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-536-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 111-dollars-79-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….