News 11:00

BULLETIN 21 April 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The IFP moves its national and provincial conferences to focus on the local government elections
# The Madlanga commission clarifies its relationship with the special investigation task team
# And rugby: An injury-forced change is made to the Junior Boks’ squad for the Under-20 Championship

# The IFP has resolved to move its national and provincial conferences to early next year, citing a need to ensure continuity and stability ahead of the local government elections. The current leadership’s term of office lapsed in August 2024, but the party opted not to elect new leaders as it had recently entered the government of national unity. The IFP says the elections present a critical opportunity to consolidate and expand the gains made in municipalities, and to strengthen its position as a credible alternative in local governance.

# The Madlanga commission has moved to clarify that the so-called ‘Madlanga task team’ is not a structure of the commission. National police commissioner Fannie Masemola established the special investigations task team to follow up on referrals made in the commission’s first interim report. The commission’s spokesperson, Jeremy Michaels, says it is making this clarification because there have been media reports recently that the task team has arrested certain people:

Meanwhile, ActionSA is for an independent and transparent investigation into allegations made by suspended Mpumalanga police commissioner Daphney Manamela. She made serious allegations against several individuals, including Masemola and former Police minister Bheki Cele. These include bribery, corruption and political interference. ActionSA’s Thoko Mashiane says these allegations cannot be ignored, and decisive action must be taken to restore integrity and public confidence in law enforcement:

Moving abroad:

# United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordination, Tom Fletcher, has criticised the US spending on the Iranian war, saying the money could save more than 87-million lives. Reports suggest the US-Israeli conflict with Iran is costing America an estimated 32.7-billion-rand per day. Speaking at Chatham House in London, Fletcher warned about the normalisation of violent language, particularly during conflicts:

# Rugby: The Junior Springboks have made an injury-forced change to their squad for the Under-20 Rugby Championship, which starts next Monday in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape. Experienced hooker Siphosethu Mnebelele sustained an ankle injury in Stellenbosch last week and will be replaced by Mahle Sithole. Head coach Kevin Foote says Mnebelele’s injury is unfortunate, but this gives Sithole a great chance to showcase his abilities. South Africa will open its campaign against Argentina, followed by Australia on 3 May and New Zealand on 9 May.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-37-cents and the euro at 19-rand-28-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-13-cents and Bitcoin trades at 75-thousand-902-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-778-dollars-34-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 91-dollars-37-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….