News 09:00

BULLETIN 8 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# SALGA says local government requires urgent support and reform
# Zimbabwe’s president extends his presidential term to 2030
# And soccer: Argentina and Switzerland are through to the World Cup quarterfinals

# The South African Local Government Association says local government continues to face structural and systemic fiscal challenges that require urgent support and reform. National Treasury is temporarily withholding July equitable share transfers to 69 municipalities in a move aimed at enforcing fiscal discipline, addressing financial mismanagement and ensuring accountability. SALGA spokesperson, Motalatale Modiba, says any withholding of equitable share must balance compliance objectives with the impact on service delivery and municipal financial sustainability:

# The DA is calling on all provincial education departments to urgently identify and locate schools with remaining sanitation challenges and to provide clear plans and timelines for addressing them. This comes as the Department of Basic Education has achieved 100-percent completion of all three-thousand-372 school sanitation projects identified through the 2018 Sanitation Appropriate for Education Initiative audit. The DA’s Desiree van der Walt says safe toilets should never have been regarded as an ambitious policy goal, but are the minimum that every child deserves:

# The City of Cape Town says it is encouraged that Public Protector Advocate Kholeka Gcaleka has taken cognisance of the difficulty of providing free services without adequate support from the national state. Gcaleka has found that the City of Cape Town failed some of its most vulnerable communities by not providing basic municipal services. Mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, says the metro is already taking the necessary actions to deal with the various complex challenges of informality and unlawful occupation:

# Zimbabwe president Emmerson Mnangagwa has signed constitutional amendments that extend the presidential term from five years to seven years. This will keep the 83-year-old in office until 2030. Both houses of Parliament approved the controversial amendments last month. The raft of sweeping changes, which critics have called a “constitutional coup”, also includes a provision for the president to be elected by parliament rather than by direct popular vote. Mnangagwa’s government has defended the reforms, saying they are aimed at promoting political stability, ensuring continuity, and supporting long-term national development.

# Soccer: Defending champions Argentina recovered from a two-goal deficit to beat Egypt 3-2 in an all-time classic round-of-16 World Cup tie in Atlanta. Egypt led the match for over an hour through goals from Yasser Ibrahim and Mostafa Ziko. Cristian Romero’s goal in the 79th minute started the comeback for Argentina before captain Lionel Messi equalised. Enzo Fernández’s stoppage-time goal secured the victory for Lionel Scaloni’s side. In Vancouver, Switzerland defeated Colombia 4-3 on penalties to set up a quarterfinal clash against Argentina.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-27-cents and the euro at 18-rand-57-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-72-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-683-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-125-dollars-8-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-92-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….