News 11:00

BULLETIN 11 April 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# There are concerns over attempts to undermine the legitimacy of the Election Commission
# TLU SA says the government has failed to address the country’s water crisis
# And golf: McIlroy is confident of his game as the Masters get underway today

# Constitutional law expert Pierre de Vos has expressed concern at the increasing attempts by some political parties to undermine the legitimacy of the Electoral Commission. In February some religious leaders in KwaZulu-Natal threatened to shut the IEC down and reject the election outcomes if the MK Party is not given a two-thirds majority. De Vos says these attacks against the integrity of the IEC might be part of a deliberate strategy to erode trust in the commission and delegitimise the outcome of the May elections.

Meanwhile, agricultural union TLU SA says deputy president Paul Mashatile’s recent comments to address the water crisis are just a political play ahead of the elections. President Cyril Ramaphosa has appointed Mashatile to chair a water task team. Mashatile says the water crisis necessitates an all-hands-on-deck approach, which would include expertise from Solidarity and AfriForum. TLU SA’s Bennie van Zyl says a long-term, 360-degree water vision is vital:

And Forum 4 Service Delivery says poor leadership is negatively affecting Gauteng municipalities. The governance performance index report by Good Governance Africa singled out Tshwane and Johannesburg as examples of major cities performing poorly. The forum’s Abel Tau says their campaign for the upcoming elections is centred on improving governance support and oversight in municipalities to ensure better service delivery. Tau has pledged to unveil their solutions at a public event in Soweto on Sunday, aiming to tackle the governance crisis and lack of oversight in the province.

# The European Union Court of Justice removed two Russian businessmen from a EU sanctions list, saying the reasons for placing them on the list isn’t sufficiently substantiated. Billionaires Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven were sanctioned after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Their funds and resources were frozen. The court found although the two men have close ties to Russian president Vladimir Putin, it wasn’t proved they supported Moscow’s actions or policies against Ukraine.

# Golf: Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy says he is confident at where his game is at the moment as the Masters get underway at Augusta National in Georgia today. The Northern Irishman will get his tenth attempt to complete the career Grand Slam. He has been grouped with world number one Scottie Scheffler and reigning Olympic gold medallist Xander Schauffele for the first two rounds. McIlroy says the lessons he has learned over the years at the Masters will hopefully serve him well:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-82-cents and the euro at 20-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-60-cents and Bitcoin trades at 70-thousand-730-dollars-53-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-337-dollars-71-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-45-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….