News 09:00

BULLETIN 29 May 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Archbishop Makgoba is urging leaders to focus on service delivery and corruption
# The FF Plus says the Public Protector will probe deputy president Mashatile’s sons
# And Amnesty International says Iran has recorded the most executions in 2023

# Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba, says South African leaders need to be focused on speeding up service delivery and eliminating corruption in all spheres of government. He addressed the eighth Annual Archbishop Thabo Makgoba Development Trust Lecture Series at the University of the Western Cape yesterday. Millions of South Africans are voting in the seventh democratic elections today. Makgoba says there is a clear lack of trust between political leaders and citizens:

# The South African Communist Party is urging South Africans to raise their voices through the power of the ballot and make a mark for democratic transformation and development for all. Millions of citizens are currently voting in what has been described as an important election for the country. SACP’s spokesperson, Alex Mashilo, says these elections are about defending the improvements from the country’s hard-won 1994 democratic breakthrough:

# The Freedom Front in Gauteng says the Public Protector has agreed to investigate deputy president Paul Mashatile’s two sons after it lodged a complaint against the duo. This comes after a complaint alleging that Thabiso Mashatile and Tinyiko Mvelase were awarded three contracts in just three months. The FF Plus’, Anton Alberts, says the contracts were awarded under suspicious circumstances by the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development:

# A total of one-thousand-153 people are known to have been put to death across 16 countries in 2023, up more than 30-percent from 2022. This is according to Amnesty International’s annual report. Iran alone carried out 74-percent of these executions, while Saudi Arabia accounted for 15-percent. No executions were recorded in Belarus, Japan, Myanmar, or South Sudan. Amnesty International says the Iranian authorities showed complete disregard for human life and ramped up executions for drug-related offences, further highlighting the discriminatory impact of the death penalty on Iran’s most marginalised.

# Rugby: Tomorrow’s special general meeting of New Zealand Rugby is described as the most important meeting in the history of the country’s professional game. Members will vote on the governance structure after a review found last year the current model wasn’t fit for purpose. The New Zealand Rugby Players’ Association and other stakeholders are in favour of a nine-person board of independent directors, appointed by an independent panel. Several provincial unions demand that at least three directors must have provincial board experience.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-31-cents and the euro at 19-rand-87-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-800-dollars-86-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-358-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-15-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….