News 11:00

BULLETIN 7 Augustus 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Health minister will start implementing a section of the National Health Insurance Act
# A Pakistani man is charged with a murder-for-hire plot to assassinate US politicians
# And cricket: The Proteas will take on the Windies in their first Test in Port of Spain from today

# Health minister Aaron Motsoaledi says he will begin implementing Section 57 of the National Health Insurance Act, while also embarking on a roadshow to meet all stakeholders to understand their concerns. Section 57 deals with transitional mechanisms that the NHI will require, including the appointment of a ministerial advisory committee. The NHI Act, which has been signed by president Cyril Ramaphosa, has not yet been promulgated. Motsoaledi says NHI could take 15 years to implement.

# The DA says it has consistently called for government to establish intelligence units to clamp down on crime and lawlessness. The party has commended the police for intercepting a cash-in-transit gang in Khayelitsha, Cape Town, on Monday evening, where eight suspects were killed and five arrested. The DA’s Ian Cameron says for far too long, South Africans have been held hostage by criminality and desperately yearn for protection from law enforcement agencies:

# The EFF in Gauteng is calling for the immediate removal of security companies deployed in Alexandra, and the suspension of police members following the death of its ward councillor Moshe Mphahlele. He was killed in Bramley on Sunday evening, while Johannesburg Metro Police Department members and private security were removing alleged illegal occupants. The EFF’s Dumisani Baleni says the continued presence of the security companies poses a risk of contaminating the crime scene in which they are implicated:

# The US Justice Department has charged a Pakistani man with alleged ties to Iran, over an alleged plot to carry out political assassinations on American soil. Forty-six-year-old Asif Merchant is accused of attempting to hire a hitman in New York to kill prominent officials this month and early September. According to reports, former president Donald Trump was among the targets. FBI director Christopher Wray says a foreign-directed plot to kill a public official, or any US citizen, is a threat to national security.

# Cricket: The first of two Tests between South Africa and the West Indies starts in Port of Spain today. The Proteas hope to get their World Test Championship campaign on track. They are currently in seventh position. The Windies, who are in ninth place, have just returned from a Test series in England, while most of the South Africans have not played Tests since December. Protea seamer Kagiso Rabada says it’s up to Test players to play an attractive brand to keep the format alive.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-36-cents and the euro at 20-rand-6-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-35-cents and Bitcoin trades at 57-thousand-840-dollars-71-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-392-dollars-75-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-31-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….