News 11:00

BULLETIN 16 March 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa calls for a swift conclusion to the application for Judge Khampepe’s recusal
# Trump demands countries help the US open the Strait of Hormuz
# And motorsport: The Qatari MotoGP race is rescheduled due to the Middle Eastern conflict

# President Cyril Ramaphosa is concerned about the application before the Gauteng High Court for retired Constitutional Court Judge Sisi Khampepe to recuse herself from the inquiry tasked with investigating delays in apartheid-era crimes. The application was filed by former presidents Jacob Zuma and Thabo Mbeki. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says the application could be detrimental to the interests of the victims who want closure and accountability from government:

# The EFF says Auditor General, Tsakani Maluleke’s response regarding the recruitment and salary increase of the Secretary to Parliament, Xolile George, is contradictory. The party had asked Maluleke to explain her office’s role in the controversial recruitment and inflated 4.4-million-rand salary. The EFF says in her response Maluleke said her office did not conduct a special audit to review George’s salary, but instead relied on the regular audit of Parliament. The party says this contradicts the public impression created that a comprehensive audit review was done.

# The Western Cape cabinet emphasises the success of the deployment of the South African National Defence Force in the province will require integrated operations. The deployment will be focused on numerous high-crime policing precincts, which together account for approximately 55-percent of violent crime in the province. Premier Alan Winde has stressed the importance of ensuring the deployment is intelligence-driven, collaborative and informed by lessons learned from previous SANDF deployments:

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump is demanding countries that depend on the Strait of Hormuz to step up and protect their own oil shipments. The route, through which 20-percent of the world’s oil travels, has been all but closed since the start of the US-Israeli war against Iran, raising global energy supply fears. Speaking to journalists on Air Force One, Trump warned NATO faced a very bad future if its members fail to step up:

Meanwhile, MotoGP has confirmed the Qatari Grand Prix, originally scheduled for next month, has been postponed to 8 November due to the ongoing geopolitical situation in the Middle East. As a result, the Portuguese Grand Prix will now be held on 22 November, with the season finale in Valencia moved to 29 November. MotoGP CEO, Carmelo Ezpeleta, says the decision was taken with the primary objective of ensuring the safety, well-being, and highest‑quality delivery of the event for all participants and attendees.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-81-cents and the euro at 19-rand-22-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 73-thousand-878-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-and-12-dollars-94-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 101-dollars-32-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….