News 12:00

BULLETIN 13 May 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# RISE Mzansi says land claims totalling over 200-million-rand have been settled since the start of 2024/25
# Three more suspects are arrested in the case of missing journalist Aserie Ndlovu and his partner
# And Cricket Australia will back its IPL players’ decision to return to India or not

# RISE Mzansi says the Department of Land Reform and Rural Development has revealed that since the start of the 2024/25 financial year, it has paid over 217-million-rand in 287 claims. Of these, 14 farms were productive at the time of settlement. Between 2014 and last year, the department did not expropriate a single portion of land. RISE Mzansi’s Makashule Gana says this information once again pours water over the misinformation and disinformation around the Expropriation Act:

# The Public Service Association says it will not stand idle whilst institutions that serve the working class are dismantled in the name of technocratic expediency. Last week, the High Court in Pietermaritzburg ruled that Ithala Bank can fully resume its operations. The Prudential Authority initiated provisional liquidation proceedings against Ithala earlier this year, prompting the freezing of the state-owned bank’s accounts. PSA’s Claude Naiker says this legal outcome is a resounding defence of economic sovereignty and social justice:

# Police have confirmed that three more suspects linked to the disappearance and possible murder of journalist Aserie Ndlovu and his partner, Zodwa Mdhluli, have been arrested. This brings the total number of those arrested to eight. Human remains, believed to be those of the couple, were discovered in Rust de Winter on the border of Limpopo and Gauteng last week. DNA tests are still pending to confirm their identities. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says the suspects were arrested this morning:

# Cricket: With the Indian Premier League resuming on Saturday, Cricket Australia says it will support players in their individual decisions on whether to return to India or not. The world’s biggest franchise league was halted for one week last Friday amid rising tensions between India and Pakistan. A ceasefire was reached a day later. Many of the Australians involved in the tournament returned home. Cricket Australia says the revised IPL schedule complicates preparations for next month’s World Test Championship final against South Africa in London.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-29-cents and the euro at 20-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-16-cents and Bitcoin trades at 102-thousand-604-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-256-dollars-16-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-62-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Today is World Cocktail Day, a spirited nod to the craft of mixology and global cocktail cultures. It was in 1806 that the first known definition of the word cocktail appeared in the American newspaper, The Balance And Columbian Repository. It defined a cocktail as a stimulating liquor beverage, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters. This was essentially the blueprint of what is today known prominently as the old-fashioned cocktail. Some of the most-loved cocktails globally are margarita, cosmopolitan, mojito, and negroni.  

Stay tuned for more news………….