News 11:00

BULLETIN 31 May 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Election Commission says it was not underfunded
# The ANC remains in the lead nationally
# And Manhattan’s District Attorney welcomes Trump’s conviction

# The Electoral Commission says as with all other state-funded institutions they have to work with the budget they are given. National Treasury has refuted claims that the IEC was not funded adequately for the elections, saying it reversed spending reductions to the commission and made an additional 250-million-rand available. The IEC has been criticised for numerous problems that emerged on election day, including malfunctioning of voter management devices. The commission’s Granville Abrahams says they are not underfunded:

Meanwhile, with just over 57-percent of the votes counted, the ANC remains in the lead nationally at 41.92-percent. The DA is currently second at 23.34-percent and the MK Party at 11.31-percent. In Gauteng, the ANC leads with 33.57-percent followed by the DA at 29.31-percent and the EFF at 12.55-percent. In the hotly contested KwaZulu-Natal, MK is at 43.95-percent, the ANC second with 18.98-percent and the IFP at 15.42-percent. In the Western Cape, the DA leads with 52.85-percent, followed by the ANC at 20.41-percent and the Patriotic Alliance at 8.96-percent.

# Load-shedding has negative labour market effects on employment, working hours and monthly earnings. This is according to research conducted by the University of Cape Town under the South Africa Towards Inclusive Development programme. On average, load-shedding periods were associated with a 2.6-percent lower chance of being employed, 1.3-percent fewer working hours per week, and 1.7-percent lower real monthly earnings. UCT’s Tim Köhler says from a policymaking perspective, the primary goal must be to rapidly reduce both the frequency and intensity of load-shedding and ultimately eliminate it.

# Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg has welcomed the landmark conviction of former president Donald Trump in New York. A jury has found Trump guilty of 34 counts of falsifying business records to conceal a hush money payment to former adult star Stormy Daniels in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election. He is the first current or former US president to be found guilty of a crime. Bragg says the verdict shows that no one is above the law:

# Soccer: Former Barcelona and Manchester United defender Gerard Piqué is under investigation for his alleged involvement in illegal payments in the relocation of Spain’s Super Cup to Saudi Arabia. Authorities have been investigating since June 2022 whether former Spanish Football Federation president Luis Rubiales committed a crime of improper management when he agreed with Piqué’s Kosmos firm to move the tournament. Judge Delia Rodrigo has concluded there are indications of wrongdoing in the deal. Thirty-seven-year-old Piqué maintains the deal was legal.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-83-cents and the euro at 20-rand-38-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-95-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-247-dollars-67-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-345-dollars-99-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-79-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….