News 11:00

BULLETIN 26 June 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Solidarity says South Africa’s relationship with Iran is not in the country’s national interest
# The International Maritime Organisation suspends its evacuation initiative in the Strait of Hormuz
# And rugby: Rassie is satisfied with the work the Boks did ahead of the Nations Championship opener against England

# Solidarity says minister of International Relations and Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, is mistaken to think South Africa’s relationship with Iran is in the country’s national interest. He defended the country’s non-alignment policy following criticism from US ambassador Leo Brent Bozell over deputy president Paul Mashatile’s visit to China and Iran’s deputy Foreign minister Saeed Khatibzadeh’s visit to Pretoria. Solidarity’s Jaco Kleynhans says the country’s independent foreign policy should not cause economic harm:

# Minister of Agriculture John Steenhuisen has approved a new set of national foot-and-mouth disease control measures, aimed at providing livestock farmers with a clearer path to recovery during outbreaks, while safeguarding South Africa’s agricultural trade and biosecurity. The department’s spokesperson, Joylene van Wyk, says a key feature of the new measures is the introduction of risk-based pathways that allow certain trade activities to resume during quarantine periods:

# ActionSA says the City of Cape Town losing its clean audit status exposes how mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis is leading the metro backwards. Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke stated the metro had regressed from its previous clean audit status due to supply chain management and procurement-related non-compliance, resulting in an unqualified audit opinion with findings. ActionSA’s Dereleen James says Cape Town deserves a government that delivers results, spends public money responsibly, and remains accountable to every resident:

Moving abroad:

# The United Nations’ International Maritime Organisation has paused its efforts aimed at evacuating ships and more than eleven-thousand seafarers stranded in the Strait of Hormuz. This comes after a cargo ship passing through the waterway came under attack southeast of Oman’s port of Dahit. The vessel was not transiting under the IMO’s evacuation framework. IMO chief, Arsenio Dominguez, says the temporary pause is to reconfirm the necessary safety guarantees continue to be in place for ships on the evacuation list and all those in the Middle East.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says the entire team is aligned on the expectations and standards going into the Nations Championship. South Africa will face England at Ellis Park in the opener in Johannesburg next Saturday, followed by Scotland in Pretoria on July 11 and Wales in Durban seven days later. Erasmus is satisfied that the necessary building blocks are in place. He is also pleased that players got invaluable game time against the Barbarians and Zimbabwe.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-50-cents and the euro at 18-rand-76-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-77-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-353-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-27-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 73-dollars-90-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….