News 11:00

BULLETIN 4 July 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The new Home Affairs minister extends the temporary visa concession
# The confusion about the latest fuel price announcement has come at a cost
# And, voting is underway in a momentous election for the UK

# New Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber has extended the temporary concession for foreign nationals, who are currently awaiting the outcome of visa, waiver, and appeal applications. Visa holders who have applied for a waiver and the waiver application is still pending as of the 30th of June, are granted a further temporary extension until the 31st of December. Schreiber says this extension safeguards applicants from suffering adverse consequences or being erroneously declared undesirable, while they await the outcome of applications submitted to the department.

# The Fuel Retailers Association has criticised the Department of Mineral and Petroleum over the confusion of the latest fuel price announcement, which has cost retailers. This comes after the department released the statement late in the evening on Tuesday with the implementation of the new price adjustment deferred to today. The association’s CEO, Reggie Sibiya, says many service stations thought the price adjustments were in effect yesterday as per usual, but this was not the case:

# ActionSA Gauteng believes the new provincial cabinet represents a mere continuation of the same old politics that has brought South Africa’s economic hub to its knees. Premier Panyaza Lesufi has finally appointed the members of his executive with the ANC being in charge of seven crucial portfolios, while the IFP, Patriotic Alliance and Rise Mzansi were each allocated one. ActionSA’s provincial chairperson, Funzi Ngobeni, says the cabinet does not represent the will of the residents:

# Voting has begun across the UK in a general election which polling suggests could bring an end to 14 years of the Conservative Party in government. Prime minister Rishi Sunak called the election in May. The main topics in the six-week campaign by major parties have been around the economy, the cost of living, the state of Britain’s public services, and tax and immigration. Around 46.5-million Brits are eligible to vote, with a total of 650 parliamentary constituencies being contested in England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

# Tennis: Andy Murray and British compatriot Emma Raducanu will play in the mixed doubles at Wimbledon after being awarded a wild card. Thirty-seven-year-old Murray, a former world number one, earlier withdrew from the singles. He and his older brother, Jamie, will play in the men’s doubles, starting their campaign against Australians Rinky Hijikata and John Peers today. Murray won the singles title in 2013 and 2016, as well as the US Open in 2012. Twenty-one-year-old Raducanu won the US Open in 2021.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-42-cents and the euro at 19-rand-87-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-48-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-658-dollars-87-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-353-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….