News 12:00

BULLETIN 8 April 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA won’t consider proposals around a reconstituted government of national unity until tax hikes are scrapped
# Cape Town’s mayor is accused of abusing his power
# And soccer: Southampton sacks its manager after relegation in a new record time

# ActionSA says it will not give any consideration to proposals regarding the government of national unity until the VAT increase and income tax bracket creep have been resolved. According to media reports, one of the suggestions that have come out of the ANC’s National Working Committee meeting yesterday is to reconstitute the coalition government to include ActionSA. The party’s spokesperson, Matthew George, says they have received no communication from the ANC in this regard:

Meanwhile, political analyst Daniel Silke says if the government of national unity survives, it’s going to be fractured, unsteady, and relatively volatile. Cracks are deepening in the coalition government as the ANC lashes out at the DA. Silke says rather than ditching the DA, the ANC would ultimately cave in to the demands of big business to work with the DA to ensure government does not collapse. He adds that a much more cohesive plan is necessary for this coalition government to succeed.

# A Cape Town resident has lodged a formal accusation against mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis, alleging that he has abused his position of power and is engaging in harassment. GOOD’s Suzette Little says they have written to the municipal speaker’s office to confirm that public funds will not be used to defend the mayor if he is charged with harassment:

# A second child has died from measles as an outbreak of the highly contagious virus continues to grow in western Texas. The school-aged child was not vaccinated, had no underlying health conditions and was in hospital suffering complications from measles. The southern US state has reported more than 480 cases of measles so far this year, nearly all in unvaccinated people. The US declared measles eliminated from the country in 2000, but outbreaks have grown since then with a rise in anti-vaccine sentiment.

# Soccer: Southampton has sacked manager Ivan Juric following their relegation from the Premier League. Southampton was condemned to relegation in record time after a 3-1 defeat to Tottenham on Sunday. Juric’s bottom of the table side has lost 25 of their 31 top-flight games in a wretched campaign. Relegation with seven fixtures left gives Southampton, last season’s Championship play-off winners, an unwanted Premier League record, surpassing Derby and Huddersfield’s relegations with six games left in 2008 and 2019, respectively.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-48-cents and the euro at 21-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-84-cents and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-103-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-and-6-dollars-77-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-66-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….