News 09:00

BULLETIN 11 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA says the Mega-State Owned Entity will be a vehicle for corruption
# The EU chief, Ursula von der Leyen, survives a no-confidence vote
# And cricket: England and India are worried about injuries

# The DA objects to the ANC creating a new Mega-State Owned Entity, saying this will be a vehicle for grand-scale corruption. It will reportedly cost South African taxpayers over 600-million-rand to set up the entity, which will manage all other state-owned companies. The DA’s Darren Bergman says the concerns around the National State Enterprises Bill, which seeks to centralise all SOEs under one holding company, overseen by the president are warranted:

# The GOOD Party has welcomed the sentencing of confessed apartheid killer policeman Johan Marais. The High Court in Pretoria sentenced the 66-year-old to 15-years imprisonment for the murder of student activist, Caiphus Nyoka, in August 1987. GOOD’s secretary general, Brett Herron, says this conviction is important to asserting the principles of justice and reasserting the integrity of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission process:

# City Power says it is intensifying its campaign against criminality threatening Johannesburg’s power infrastructure. This follows two incidents this week. In the first incident, a City Power contractor technician was held hostage and physically assaulted at a house in Florida, Roodepoort, while conducting a meter audit and disconnection. City Power’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, says in the second incident, an illegal electricity syndicate was dismantled in Lenasia:

# European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, survived a no-confidence vote in the European Parliament on Thursday. The motion related to Von der Leyen’s refusal to release texts exchanged with the chief executive of vaccine maker Pfizer during the COVID-19 pandemic. Only 175 members of Parliament backed the motion, while 360 voted against and 18 abstained. Von der Leyen has rejected criticism of her management of the pandemic and asserted that her approach ensured equal vaccine access across the European Union.

# Cricket: England are sweating over the fitness of captain Ben Stokes, after he appeared hampered by a groin injury while batting on the first day of the third Test against India at Lord’s. He received treatment on the field and hobbled between the wickets. Stokes remained unbeaten on 39 at stumps alongside Joe Root on 99 not out as England reached 251 for four. Meanwhile, India have their own injury concern, with Rishabh Pant leaving the field midway through the opening day after he hurt his finger.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-76-cents and the euro at 20-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 116-thousand-606-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-331-dollars-64-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-16-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….