News 11:00

BULLETIN 29 April 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A News24 probe has revealed the man behind an X account spreading misinformation about SA
# Canada’s Mark Carney’s Liberal Party has won the elections
# And in rugby, Blackett and McGuigan to join England coaching team

# The man behind Boer @twatterbaas, an account on X used to reinforce misinformation about South Africa, including farm killings and land seizes, has been identified as Sebastiaan Jooste. A News24 investigation has revealed that Twatterbaas has, for years, acted as a bridge between South African conservatives and the MAGA right in America. The probe reveals nearly 300 interactions between Jooste and billionaire Elon Musk since June 2024, with the 46-year-old former farmer addressing or reposting Musk’s posts 274 times. The analysis also found that Jooste’s account appeared ideologically driven.

# EFF leader Julius Malema has proposed that the entire budget process be taken away from National Treasury. This follows an order by the Western Cape High Court, which effectively suspended the 0.5 percentage point value-added tax increase that was set to come into effect on Thursday. Malema says the EFF has long warned that Finance minister Enoch Godongwana and the leadership of the Treasury are incompetent, untrustworthy, and incapable of tabling a credible, believable, and lawful budget:

# Home Affairs minister Leon Schreiber says the Border Management Authority’s Easter operations success was driven by the digital transformation process that is now in full swing. This year six-thousand-253 attempted illegal migration crossings into South Africa were intercepted by the BMA, compared to just three-thousand-841 in 2024. This is a 63-percent increase. Schreiber says there is now sustained improvement in the efficiency of border management:

# Canada’s Liberal Party, led by prime minister Mark Carney, has won the country’s federal election. The Liberals were projected to win more of Parliament’s 343 seats than the Conservative Party. However, it remains too close to call whether he will secure a majority or will have to rely on other parties to govern. In his victory speech, Carney said Canada now finds itself at a hinge moment of history, where its old relationship of integration with the US is now over:

# Rugby: Lee Blackett and Byron McGuigan will join Steve Borthwick’s England coaching team for the upcoming tour to Argentina and the USA in July. Blackett will step in to replace Richard Wigglesworth while he is on duty as an assistant coach with the British and Irish Lions in Australia. McGuigan will work alongside Joe El-Abd as assistant defence coach. Borthwick says both Blackett and McGuigan have a mindset and approach to their coaching that very much align with how he wants the team to continue playing.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-55-cents and the euro at 21-rand-13-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-87-cents and Bitcoin trades at 94-thousand-780-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-316-dollars-17-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-9-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….