News 09:00

BULLETIN 23 April 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Cosatu wants the former director general of Military Veterans held accountable
# Denel suspends three senior executives over possible misconduct
# And two British men are charged with spying for China

# Cosatu says it is dismayed government has accepted the resignation of suspended Department of Military Veterans director-general Irene Mpolweni. Her departure follows a back-and-forth tussle between herself, who was facing a disciplinary hearing, and the department after her suspension in March last year. She was suspended over allegations of irregular, fruitless and wasteful expenditure valued at over 200-million-rand. Cosatu’s, Matthew Parks, says Mpolweni cannot be allowed to walk away without being held accountable:

# State-owned arms manufacturer Denel has reportedly placed three senior executives, including acting chief financial officer Thandeka Sabela, on precautionary suspension over possible misconduct. According to the Daily Maverick, Sabela, Michael Kgobe, who also served as acting CEO, and head of corporate finance and treasury, Gawie van Zyl, were suspended earlier this month. The suspension of the trio is reportedly related to a case of fraud and theft opened by the Democratic Republic of Congo embassy.

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse initiative, JoburgCAN seeks an extension for submissions on the City of Johannesburg’s integrated development plan until the end of this month. This follows complaints from communities about inefficiencies in the public participation process, including inconvenient meeting times and lack of presentation availability. JoburgCAN manager Julia Fish advocates for a separate review or extended timeframe for the overhaul of the Rates Bylaw policy. Fish urges the municipality to facilitate effective communication and responsiveness to resident concerns:

# Two British men must return to a London court on Friday after they were charged with spying for China. Parliamentary researcher Christopher Cash and Christopher Berry are accused of supplying information to a foreign state that could be useful to an enemy. BBC News reports Cash was involved with the China Research Group which had access to several Conservative Members of Parliament. The two men were arrested in March last year and released on bail while the investigation against them was finalised.

# Laureus Awards: Novak Djokovic, Simone Biles, and Jude Bellingham were some of the winners at the Laureus Sports Awards in Madrid. Twenty-four-time Grand Slam champion Djokovic won the Sportsman of the Year award for a record-equalling fifth time, while the Sportswoman of the Year went to Spain’s soccer player Aitana Bonmatí. American gymnast Biles won the Comeback of the Year Award. England and Real Madrid midfielder Bellingham won the World Breakthrough of the Year Award. Djokovic says sports is a unifier:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-17-cents and the euro at 20-rand-44-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-69-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-466-dollars-34-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-305-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-41-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….