News 08:00

BULLETIN 3 September 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Mashatile is concerned over delays to the start of the Madlanga Commission
# My Vote Counts says the country needs a more transparent political funding system
# And eleven killed in a US military strike on an alleged drug-carrying boat from Venezuela

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile has expressed concern over delays to the start of the Madlanga Commission. The commission is tasked with investigating criminality, political interference, and corruption within the criminal justice system. Its hearings were scheduled to begin on Monday, 1st September, but a procurement delay meant critical infrastructure was not ready, forcing a postponement. Mashatile says he is confident that a new start date for the commission will be announced soon:

# My Vote Counts says the IEC’s annual Political Party Funding Report reveals a need for a more transparent and accountable party funding system. The report, which covers the period from April 1st 2023, to March 31st 2024, shows that political parties received over 3.2-billion-rand in total funding. Together, the ANC and DA received over 73-percent of all political funding. My Vote Counts says that without greater access to information about parties’ funding sources, their lending activities, and expenditures, the ability to detect private interests influencing politics remains limited.

# AfriForum says Stellenbosch Municipality’s Human Resources manager, Alexander Kannemeyer, must be removed from his position as he cannot be trusted to make legal and impartial decisions. This follows a video circulating on social media in which Kannemeyer allegedly suggests making life difficult for white employees until they resign. This is so that they can be replaced by the municipality’s preferred candidate. AfriForum’s Morné Mostert says the community will ultimately suffer the most if the municipality insists on their race-based vendetta:

# The US military carried out a deadly strike in the Caribbean targeting a Venezuelan drug-carrying boat. Eleven people, believed to be members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua, were killed in the strike. US president Donald Trump says the strike occurred while the terrorists were at sea in international waters transporting illegal narcotics, heading to America. Secretary of State Marco Rubio says they are going to wage combat against drug cartels that are flooding American streets and killing citizens:

# Golf: South African golf sensation Aldrich Potgieter will return to Sun City for the Nedbank Golf Challenge from 4 to 7 December, a year after almost winning it on his debut. He’ll be joined by multiple DP World Tour champion Christiaan Bezuidenhout. The 20-year-old Potgieter is the youngest South African winner in PGA Tour history following his maiden win in the Rocket Classic in June, and is the highest ranked South African golfer on the Official World Golf Ranking just outside the top 50.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-72-cents and the euro at 20-rand-60-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 111-thousand-99-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-531-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-80-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….