News 11:00

BULLETIN 18 June 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa launches the Milestones of Freedom campaign
# Ukraine targets Moscow’s oil refinery for a second time this week
# And soccer: Bafana Bafana’s coach insists he will continue to do things his way

# President Cyril Ramaphosa will officially launch the Milestones of Freedom campaign at the Union Buildings in Pretoria today, commemorating key milestones in South Africa’s democratic journey. His spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says this year, the country observes significant and defining milestones, including the 30th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution, the 50th anniversary of the 1976 youth uprisings, and the 70th anniversary of the anti-pass campaign:

# Government says it is making steady progress in the enforcement of lifestyle audits, with seven of the country’s nine provinces having made some gains. Compliance with the lifestyle audit programme was sitting at 61-percent in 2023 and now stands at 93-percent, covering eight-thousand-982 senior officials. Government says in Gauteng, 37-percent of accounting officials audited were categorised as high or medium risk. In the Western Cape, premier Alan Winde and all eleven MECs, including their spouses, have been subjected to four rounds of independent lifestyle audits since 2020.

# The Johannesburg Metro Police Department has uncovered an illegal operation in the CBD involving the relabelling of expired food and suspected stolen municipal cables during a high-impact operation. It’s alleged expiry dates were removed using chemical substances and replaced with fraudulent labels. JMPD spokesperson Xolani Fihla says no arrests have been made yet, but investigations are continuing and those responsible will be brought to justice:

Moving abroad:

# For the second time this week, Ukraine struck the Moscow oil refinery in the southeastern district of Kapotnya this morning. On Tuesday, Kyiv hit the facility with long-range drones, in an operation president Volodymyr Zelensky called a just response to Russian strikes. The refinery is one of the largest in Moscow, supplying about 40-percent of the country’s fuel market. The attack comes as world leaders at the G7 summit in France committed to helping Ukraine secure more air defence capabilities.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana coach Hugo Broos says he will continue to do things his way and is not interested in trash spoken about him on social media. South Africa will try to get their World Cup campaign back on track against the Czech Republic in Atlanta today. Broos, who came under heavy criticism after the 2-0 defeat to co-hosts Mexico in their opener, says the team’s only focus is on delivering an improved performance:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-36-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-77-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-27-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-303-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-50-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….