News 12:00

BULLETIN 11 July 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA wants the removal of the police’s Crime Intelligence division’s chief financial official
# The Institute of Race Relations urges the Labour minister to heed concerns over race laws
# And rugby: The Springbok Women have a distinct Eastern Cape flavour for the second Test against Canada

# The DA says the police’s Crime Intelligence division’s chief financial official, Philani Lushaba, currently in police custody, was a substitute trustee of the Government Employees Pension Fund for two previous financial years. In this role, he allegedly pocketed at least 652-thousand-rand in trustee fees. The DA’s Andrew Bateman says this is extremely concerning given Lushaba’s recent arrest on two separate charges of corruption, in which he is alleged to have abused his position:

# The Institute of Race Relations says government pays lip service to economic transformation, yet its conduct tells citizens it is dedicated to fake transformation. The institute handed over the #NoMoreRaceLaws Bill petition to the Department of Employment and Labour on behalf of more than 12-thousand-300 South Africans who signed it. IRR’s Nomakhosazana Meth says driving inclusion in economic transformation can be achieved when it is entrenched in skills and ability:

# Parliament’s select committee on Appropriations has strongly condemned the targeted killing of public officials who, in the execution of their duties, uncover and report acts of corruption. An ANC councillor in Tshwane, Thabang Masemola, was killed on Tuesday, while Ekurhuleni’s Corporate and Forensic Audit Department head, Mpho Mafole, was gunned down last week. Committee chairperson, Tidimalo Legwase, says the killing of Mafole specifically is a cowardly act aimed at intimidating those working to clean up the public sector. She has called for urgent measures to protect whistleblowers.

# The City of Cape Town has ramped up maintenance of rivers, canals and waterways for seasonal rainfall. One of these critical interventions initiated by the metro’s Water and Sanitation Directorate has recently been completed at the Sir Lowry’s Pass River in Gordon’s Bay. Mayoral committee member for Water and Sanitation, Zahid Badroodien, says in addition, mechanical plant clearing has been undertaken to remove accumulated silt from the riverbed of the river:

# Rugby: The Springbok Women side to play Canada in Gqeberha tomorrow will have a distinct Eastern Cape flavour after coach Swys de Bruin made several changes to his match-23. He opted to move both Byrhandrѐ Dolf and Eloise Webb from the bench into the starting team, with Dolf, who hails from Uitenhage, starting at fullback and Webb, a Nelson Mandela University alumnus from East London, running out at flyhalf. Meanwhile, Nadine Roos has been moved from fullback to scrumhalf in a move that will see her much closer to the action.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-82-cents and the euro at 20-rand-83-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-14-cents and Bitcoin trades at 117-thousand-957-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-341-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-38-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….