News 08:00

BULLETIN 12 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party is accused of abusing the Constitutional Court process
# eThekwini estimates the cost of the storm damage to be over 400-million-rand
# And soccer: Bafana Bafana beat Zimbabwe in Bloemfontein

# Constitutional law expert professor Pierre de Vos believes the MK Part is abusing the court process and should be visited by a punitive cost order. The party has filed an urgent application at the Constitutional Court to overturn the general elections and to interdict the first sitting of the National Assembly on Friday. De Vos says the MK Party’s application does not contain any evidence that would support a claim that irregularities material to the determination of the final result of the election had occurred. He believes the application will fail.

# Former Free State premier Ace Magashule’s former personal assistant, Moroadi Cholota, has filed an application in the Constitutional Court challenging the request to extradite her from the US. A US court certified that the National Prosecuting Authority produced sufficient evidence to sustain its fraud and corruption case against her, and found she can be extradited. She is linked to the 255-million-rand asbestos tender corruption case involving Magashule and other officials. Cholota wants the extradition request declared invalid and unconstitutional.

# eThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, says the estimated cost of the repair of storm-damaged electricity, roads, and housing infrastructure is estimated at 481.7-million-rand. Last week heavy rain, flooding, and a tornado hit parts of KwaZulu-Natal leaving ten people dead. The most impacted areas were Tongaat, IIlovo, Umgababa, and Kingsburgh. Kaunda says there needs to be clear criteria to address natural disasters affecting formal structures, especially when people do not have insurance to mitigate acts of fraudulent claims:

# The United Nations Human Rights office says it is shocked at the impact on civilians of the Israeli operation in central Gaza that rescued four hostages held by Hamas. At least 274 Palestinians were killed in the operation and hundreds were injured in the densely-populated Nuseirat refugee camp on Saturday. The UN says how Israeli forces conducted the raid could amount to war crimes. It adds that Palestinian armed groups could face war crimes charges for continuing to hold hostages in highly-populated areas.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana beat Zimbabwe three-one at the Free State Stadium in Bloemfontein to take control of their 2026 World Cup qualifying campaign. Goals from Iqraam Rayners and a second-half brace from Thapelo Morena secured the victory. The win takes South Africa to second place in Group C, tied on seven points with Rwanda who are top due to a better goal difference. Coach Hugo Broos says he is happy with how the qualifying campaign is going:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-55-cents and the euro at 19-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-65-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-391-dollars-10-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-315-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-92-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….