News 09:00

BULLETIN 17 April 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Auditor-General is concerned by municipalities failing to submit their financial statements on time
# The Du Toit’s Kloof fire is currently burning out of control
# And cricket: The Protea women can clinch the ODI series against Sri Lanka today

# Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke has asked for Parliament’s intervention in getting municipalities to submit their financial statements on time. At least 14 municipalities failed to conclude the financial statements for 2023, in time for auditing. These include the City of Tshwane and the Ditsobotla Municipality in the North West. Maluleke says she has asked Parliament’s acting speaker, Lechesa Tsenoli, to refer the matter to the portfolio committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs.

# The Cape Winelands District Municipality’s Fire Services is continuing to battle a fire that is burning out of control in the Du Toit’s Kloof. The fire, which started opposite the Du Kloof Hotel yesterday evening, has continued to burn into the cliffs in the direction of the Huguenot Tunnel. The municipality’s spokesperson, Jo-Anne Otto, says motorists are being urged to drive with caution in the area:

# The DA in Johannesburg says it is deeply concerned by the continuous water outages that plague residents. Last week, the residents supplied by the Forest Hill Water Tower experienced a water outage that lasted for several hours. The reason for this outage was Rand Water’s Zwartkoppies pumping station. The DA’s, Michael Crichton, says this had a similar ring to the 55-day water outage the residents supplied by the South Hills Water Tower experienced:

# Myanmar’s detained former leader and Nobel laureate, Aung San Suu Kyi, has reportedly been moved from prison to house arrest. The 78-year-old has been detained by the Myanmar military since it overthrew her government in a 2021 coup. She faces 27 years in prison for crimes ranging from treason and bribery to violations of the telecommunications law, charges she denies. Junta spokesperson Zaw Min Tun says lots of prisoners are being moved to house arrest as a precautionary measure due to the extremely hot weather.

# Cricket: The Proteas Women can claim a series victory over Sri Lanka in today’s third and final one-day game in Potchefstroom. The first game in East London was rained out, and the hostesses won the second encounter in Kimberley on Saturday by seven wickets. South Africa bowled the visitors out for 229 when Ayabonga Khaka and Nadine de Klerk both took three wickets. Captain Laura Wolvaardt then smashed an unbeaten century and the Proteas reached the target with just three wickets down and 14 balls remaining.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-1-cent and the euro at 20-rand-22-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-65-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-741-dollars-37-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-382-dollars-10-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-49-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….