News 08:00

BULLETIN 29 May 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A US trade court has blocked Trump from imposing sweeping global tariffs
# The Auditor-General says only 16% of municipalities can be trusted to spend public funds effectively 
# And soccer: Banyana Banyana disappointed at their performance against Botswana despite the win

# The US Court of International Trade has ruled that president Donald Trump overstepped his authority to impose sweeping global tariffs on imports. The three-judge panel in New York stated that the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, a 1977 law that Trump cited to justify the tariffs, does not give him the power to impose them. The nonpartisan Liberty Justice Centre filed the lawsuit. The court ruled in favour of a permanent injunction, potentially grinding the global tariffs to a halt. The Trump administration has appealed.

# Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke says the state of financial and performance management disciplines in local government leaves much to be desired. Local government has lost 17.6-billion-rand over the past three years to fruitless and wasteful expenditure. The Auditor-General found that only 41 out of 257 councils received a clean audit in the 2023/2024 financial year. Maluleki told Parliament’s Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs committee that only 16-percent of municipalities can be trusted to spend public funds effectively:

# Public Works and Infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has threatened legal action against the National Education, Health and Allied Workers’ Union for trying to interfere in the department’s recruitment of senior managers. The union allegedly demanded to sign off on job adverts, take part in shortlisting, and sit in on interviews. Macpherson says this violates the Public Service Act. He accused the union of colluding with Parliament’s portfolio committee and trying to influence investigations into questionable lease deals.

# The GOOD Party has welcomed the released amendments to the City of Cape Town’s draft budget. The party’s, Anton Louw, says as a result of public pressure during the initial comment period, the amended budget includes tangible relief for some residents. He says these include the pensioner rates rebate threshold raised from 22-thousand-rand to 27-thousand-rand, and fixed water charges have been lowered for properties up to 25-million-rand:

# Soccer: Banyana Banyana coach Desiree Ellis says she is disappointed at their performance against Botswana in their opening three-nation series at the Lucas Moripe Stadium in Pretoria. Goals from Adrielle Mibe and Jermaine Seoposenwe, who netted twice, saw South Africa edge Botswana 3-2. Banyana Banyana will face Zambia at the same venue on Tuesday. Ellis acknowledged that there are areas for improvement ahead of the Women’s Africa Cup of Nations in Morocco in July:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-96-cents and the euro at 20-rand-20-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-12-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-201-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-270-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….