News 08:00

BULLETIN 10 July 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Home Affairs has achieved the biggest reduction in refugee appeals in years
# Zweli Mkhize says the Treasury can’t continue to condone poor financial management
# And Donald Trump briefs Benjamin Netanyahu on ‘American moves in the Gulf’

# The Department of Home Affairs’ Refugee Appeals Authority has recorded the biggest reduction in the asylum appeals backlog in years, slashing its historic backlog by 14.2-percent and its active caseload by 12-percent in 2025/2026. The caseload declined from 79-thousand-870 cases at the end of 2024 to 70-thousand-976 at the end of last year. The department says cases were removed through appeal determinations, withdrawals, case finalisations, and paper determinations where appellants failed to attend scheduled hearings. Minister Leon Schreiber says this is another important step in the country’s immigration reform journey.

# Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs portfolio committee chairperson, Zweli Mkhize, says non-compliance with the law cannot be condoned to spare communities from the impact of poor financial management. This comes as the National Treasury has frozen July grant payments to 69 municipalities over financial mismanagement and governance failures. Mkhize says the challenges reflected in Treasury’s interventions, including unfunded budgets, weak controls, and procurement irregularities, are the same problems that have been repeatedly identified in audit committee outcomes and oversight engagements:

# Gauteng police arrested 80 illegal immigrants during a multidisciplinary Operation Shanela conducted in Pretoria yesterday. This formed part of the ongoing provincial operation Shanela initiatives to combat crime, enforce immigration laws, and enhance public safety across Gauteng districts. Nine vehicles were also impounded for road safety. Deputy provincial Police Commissioner, Fred Kekana, told the SABC that one person was also arrested for employing illegal immigrants:

# US president Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a phone call on Thursday evening, in which they agreed to continue coordination on various fronts. This comes as the US and Iran traded strikes this week. According to Netanyahu’s office, Trump updated the prime minister on current American moves in the Gulf and the attacks against Iranian assets. For his part, Netanyahu raised the matter of Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s comments against the existence of the State of Israel and the need for security zones along Israel’s borders.

# Soccer: Captain Kylian Mbappé starred for France as the two-time champions defeated Morocco 2-0 in Boston to reach a third successive World Cup semifinal. Player of the Match Mbappé recovered from a first-half penalty miss to score his eighth goal of the tournament, before setting up Ousmane Dembele for his fifth to seal the victory. Mbappé, with eight goals, is now level with Argentina’s Lionel Messi in the race for the Golden Boot. Didier Deschamps’ side will face Spain or Belgium in the semifinals in Dallas on Tuesday.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-28-cents and the euro at 18-rand-64-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-88-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-840-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-122-dollars-14-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-43-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….