News 08:00

BULLETIN 25 June 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# SCOPA launches an inquiry into the Road Accident Fund
# A Democratic congressman wants Donald Trump impeached over his decision to strike Iran
# And Athletics: Prudence Sekgodiso wins the 800m at the Ostrava Golden Spike

# Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts has resolved to launch a full inquiry into the Road Accident Fund. The inquiry will probe allegations of maladministration, financial mismanagement, wasteful and reckless expenditure, and related financial misconduct. The committee says this decision follows months of repeated attempts to obtain truthful, complete information from the RAF board and executive management, to little avail. SCOPA chairperson Songezo Zibi says they plan to approve the inquiry’s terms of reference by the beginning of July.

Meanwhile, ActionSA says it fully supports Parliament’s standing committee on Public Accounts’ decision to launch an inquiry into the Road Accident Fund. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley calls the RAF a cesspool of corruption and mismanagement. Beesley has called for the RAF Board’s dismissal and a full parliamentary debate. With the fund having over 50-billion-rand in annual revenue, he says South Africans deserve accountability, not incompetence and wasteful expenditure:

# The South African Students Federation will march to the Department of Higher Education’s head office in Pretoria today. The federation says it is concerned about several unresolved National Student Financial Aid Scheme matters, which have led to gross tuition accumulation fees for students and the disbursement of allowances. The march will begin at Old Putco Depot in Marabastad and proceed to the department’s offices at Francis Baard Street. The City of Tshwane says several roads will be affected, including Struben, Madiba, and Pretorius streets.

# Democratic Congressman Al Green has introduced articles of impeachment against president Donald Trump, accusing him of abusing his powers. He says the president disregarded the doctrine of separation of powers by usurping Congress’s power to declare war, by ordering the US military to bomb Iran without the constitutionally mandated authorisation. Green’s resolution labels Trump an authoritarian president and a threat to American democracy:

# Athletics: South Africa’s Prudence Sekgodiso won the women’s 800-metres final in a meeting record and personal best time of one-minute-57.16-seconds at the Ostrava Golden Spike in the Czech Republic. Botswana’s Oratile Nowe and Ethiopian Nigist Getachew completed the podium. Another South African, Douw Smit, finished second behind India’s multiple Olympic medallist Neeraj Chopra in the men’s javelin final, with a throw of 84.12-meters. Tshepo Tshite finished in a disappointing ninth place in the men’s 1,500-meters.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-74-cents and the euro at 20-rand-62-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-16-cents and Bitcoin trades at 106-thousand-63-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-331-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 67-dollars-1-cent a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….