News 11:00

BULLETIN 28 August 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Co-operative Governance minister will present a turnaround plan for dysfunctional municipalities
# Ten people were killed in a bus accident on route to Johannesburg from Zimbabwe
# And rugby: Etzebeth is still a possibility for the first All Blacks Test

# Minister of Co-operative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Velenkosini Hlabisa, says he will seek approval from cabinet to establish an inter-ministerial committee, to focus on the audit outcomes of municipalities. The 2022/’23 local government audit outcomes revealed a regression in the management of municipal finances, with over seven-billion-rand in fruitless and wasteful expenditure registered. Hlabisa says he will produce a turnaround plan for dysfunctional municipalities within 21 days, which will need to be accompanied by political will.

Meanwhile the MK Party says the Auditor-General’s latest report on Local Government Outcomes paints a grim picture of a failing local government system. Poor audit outcomes in local government continue unabated, with only 34 of South Africa’s 257 municipalities obtaining clean bills of health. MK’s Visvin Reddy says there needs to be a strengthening of audit committees, stricter accountability measures in municipalities, and investment in building the capacity of municipal officials:

# An investigation is underway following the death of ten people in a bus accident on the N1 near Makhado in Limpopo yesterday evening. The bus was on route to Johannesburg from Zimbabwe, when the accident happened just before midnight. The Limpopo Department of Transport and Community Safety’s Phuti Lekganyane says all the victims, five men and five women, are reportedly foreign nationals:

# The US Justice Department has filed a new indictment against former president Donald Trump for his alleged attempts to interfere in the 2020 election. Last month, the Supreme Court ruled that former presidents are entitled to some degree of immunity from criminal prosecution for acts committed while in office. The revised 36-page indictment still includes the four crimes Trump is accused of committing, including conspiracy to defraud the US. The former president says the new indictment is an effort to distract the American people from the election.

# Rugby: Eben Etzebeth could still play for the Springboks in Saturday’s Rugby Championship Test against the All Blacks at Ellis Park, despite being omitted from the match-day squad because of a knee niggle. Pieter-Steph du Toit was named number 4 lock and will pair with Ruan Nortjé. But head coach Rassie Erasmus says Etzebeth, a veteran of 124 Tests, did a whole training session on Monday and could play in place of one of the substitute loose forwards, namely Kwagga Smith, Marco van Staden and Elrigh Louw.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-75-cents and the euro at 19-rand-81-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 59-thousand-170-dollars-97-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-510-dollars-35-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 79-dollars-58-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….