News 09:00

BULLETIN 29 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa’s cases against the European Union’s citrus measures move forward
# Julius Malema says the new government continues to pursue a neo-colonial economy
# And Olympic Games: Nadal is set for a blockbuster clash against Djokovic

# South Africa’s request for two panels at the World Trade Organisation to examine the European Union’s measures on citrus imports has been approved. These steps were taken to address the regulations on Citrus Black Spot and False Codling Moth. The government says the regulations are being challenged to protect the livelihoods of tens of thousands of people in the local citrus industry. South Africa says these regulations lack scientific basis costing the country 3.7-billion-rand annually. The panel phase is set to begin adjudication.

# The MK Party says it is despicable that an ANC National Disciplinary Committee document revealing that former president Jacob Zuma has been expelled from the party has been leaked. The committee found Zuma guilty of breaching the ANC’s constitution and recommended he be expelled. The former president’s hearing was held virtually last week, with party Secretary-General Fikile Mbalula as the key witness. MK Party’s spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, told the SABC that they have not received any formal communication from the ANC:

# EFF leader Julius Malema says the country’s new leadership is a coalition of the ANC and the DA, masquerading as a government of national unity. He argues South Africa cannot be united by people who want to privatise state-owned enterprises. Speaking in Kimberley in the Northern Cape over the weekend, Malema accused the government of relying on the private sector and markets to resolve inequality, chronic unemployment and poverty:

# Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi says the provincial government will be embarking on a series of assessments of infrastructure in the province. Yesterday, he received a detailed report on the operations of the Vaal River System and its bulk water supply to Gauteng and other provinces, including infrastructure maintenance. Lesufi has reassured residents that maintenance being done by Rand Water on its systems is being done with speed to restore water supply to affected areas:

# Olympic Games: Two all-time greats of tennis, Spain’s Rafael Nadal and Serbia’s Novak Djokovic will meet for a record-extending 60th time in their careers when they play in the second round in Paris today. Nadal defeated Hungary’s Marton Fucsovics, 6-1 4-6, 6-4, while Djokovic eased past Australia’s Matt Ebden. Nadal owns a 112-4 record at Roland Garros, where he is a 14-time champion. Tokyo gold medalist Alexander Zverev of Germany, Norwegian Casper Ruud, and Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece are also through to the second round.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-26-cents and the euro at 19-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-53-cents and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-328-dollars-37-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-394-dollars-39-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-55-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….