News 13:00

BULLETIN 16 May 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Luthuli family welcomes the reopening of an inquest into Chief Albert Luthuli’s death 
# The Referendum Party is to publicly confront the DA in the Western Cape
# And boxing: A ring announcer retires following the backlash over naming the wrong winner 

# The Luthuli family has welcomed the reopening of an inquest into the death of former ANC president Chief Albert Luthuli. Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Ronald Lamola, announced the reopening, also extending it to the deaths of anti-apartheid activist Griffiths Mxenge and civic leader Booi Mantyi. The ministry notes ongoing speculation about Luthuli’s death in 1967, reportedly after being hit by a train near his home in Groutville, KwaZulu-Natal. The family says the inquest will resolve questions being asked over the past 57-years.

# The Referendum Party is driving a mobile advertising convoy in a continuous loop around Parliament and the DA’s offices in Mill Street, Cape Town, today. Party leader, Phil Craig, says the key message will be that after 15 years with an outright DA majority in the Western Cape, it remains an economic disaster zone. He says premier Alan Winde must call a referendum on Cape independence, which will unlock the province’s potential:

# FNB senior economist, Siphamandla Mkhwanazi, says retail volumes continue to reflect a subdued consumer demand environment, weighed on by sticky inflation, high interest rates and depressed consumer confidence. The prevailing tight lending standards, in the face of elevated debt service costs and credit defaults, should keep credit growth relatively contained, further limiting consumers’ ability to fund purchases. Mkhwanazi says there are some faint glimmers of hope in the medium to long term:

# Five Israeli soldiers have been killed in Gaza and seven more injured in one of the deadliest incidents of its kind since the war began in October. Israeli media say the troops were killed when they were mistakenly hit by Israeli tank fire. An initial probe found the soldiers had occupied a building in Jabalia refugee camp, close to Israeli tanks also stationed in the area. The tank crews identified a weapon in the building and fired two shells towards it.

# Boxing: A ring announcer decided to quit the role after being heavily cricised for naming the wrong winner after a women’s WBA bantamweight title fight in Australia last weekend. American Dan Hennessey mistakenly named Nina Hughes of England the winner, just to have to call the fighters back and announced that Australian Cherneka Johnson indeed won the bout. He says on social media the worldwide backlash affected his mental health and he refuses to be the world’s punching bag anymore.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-22-cents and the euro at 19-rand-81-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-9-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-266-dollars-63-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-386-dollars-98-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-95-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….