News 12:00

BULLETIN 15 July 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Tau says affirmative action policies will continue
# Evacuated Newton residents in the Boland are given the clear to return home
# And, rugby: Five players are called up to the Springbok squad for the Test against Portugal

# Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition Parks Tau has assured South Africans that affirmative action policies like broad-based black economic empowerment will not be scrapped under the government of national unity. The department is responsible for a range of economy-shaping policies, including those seeking to redress racial imbalances that persist in the business environment. Tau says the cabinet lekgotla this past weekend focused on developing a unified national agenda:

# The Drakenstein Municipality in the Boland says about 900 families who were evacuated from Newton in Wellington have been given the green light to return home. Residents began evacuating voluntarily last week Tuesday when the Bo-Dal farm dam wall was deemed at risk due to heavy rainfall. The municipality’s spokesperson, Riana Geldenhuys, says they will keep monitoring the dam closely, and notify residents immediately should the situation change:

# Gauteng Finance and Economic Development MEC Lebogang Maile says the provincial government is making progress in securing the 12.9-billion-rand needed to settle its part of the e-toll debt. Earlier this year, the government officially scrapped e-tolls. The provincial government agreed to pay 30-percent of the almost 43-billion-rand debt and the National Treasury the remaining 70-percent owed to the South African National Roads Agency. Maile says they have different options for funding on the table:

# Kenyan police are probing whether cultists or serial killers could have been involved after they found five bags filled with the dismembered remains of a number of women at a rubbish dump in Nairobi over the weekend. On Friday, the bodies of six other women were found in bags in the Mukuru slum. The country’s police watchdog is also investigating whether there was any police involvement, as the deaths came amid allegations of widespread human rights abuses by police during recent anti-government protests.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus has called up five players to the squad for the Test against Portugal in Bloemfontein on Saturday. The new additions to the squad are loose forward Elrigh Louw, prop Ntuthuko Mchunu, and uncapped fullback Quan Horn, hooker André-Hugo Venter and loose forward Ruan Venter. Franco Mostert and Edwill van der Merwe have been ruled out due to injury while Damian de Allende has been granted leave due to personal reasons. The 41-man squad now features seven uncapped players.

# And, the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-6-cents and the euro at 19-rand-69-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-45-cents and Bitcoin trades at 62-thousand-886-dollars-69-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-408-dollars-68-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 85-dollars-3-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….