News 13:00

BULLETIN 5 June 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The state is not opposing bail for Zizi Kodwa and his co-accused
# A UWC professor says South Africa has robust democratic systems
# And tennis: Ons Jabeur slams the French Open organisers for a lack of women’s matches in night sessions 

# Sports, Arts and Culture minister Zizi Kodwa and his co-accused, former EOH executive Jehan Mackay, intend to plead not guilty over alleged corruption linked to EOH Holdings. Kodwa is accused of receiving 1.6-million-rand in bribes from Mackay. Their arrest follows the Zondo commission’s recommendations on state capture. The state has informed the Palm Ridge Magistrate’s Court in Gauteng it will not oppose bail. Kodwa’s lawyer, Zola Majavu, says his client is aware of the nature and gravity of the charges:

# University of the Western Cape professor Fiona Anciano says the over 16 million South Africans who voted in the general elections, show the country’s robust democratic systems. The elections saw a record number of political parties on the ballot and independent candidates standing for the first time. Anciano says the ANC, which has been in power for 30 years, peacefully accepting it lost its majority, is democracy at its best:

# The City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management says teams are monitoring high-risk areas, and determining the need for humanitarian and engineering relief where impacts have been reported. There have been reports of flooding in Khayelitsha, Gugulethu, Wallacedene, Macassar, Sir Lowry’s Pass Village and Nomzamo in Strand. Spokesperson Charlotte Powell says the South African Weather Service has also issued a warning for Level 2 damaging winds between Cape Point and Cape Agulhas today:

# Tennis: Tunisian star Ons Jabeur slammed the French Open organisers, criticising the lack of women’s matches in the night sessions which results in record-breaking late finishes. All 10 of the night matches at Roland Garros so far this year have been men’s ties, which take much longer than women’s matches. Jabeur’s quarter-final defeat by Coco Gauff started at 11am yesterday, with the early exchanges played in front of largely empty stands on Court Philippe Chatrier.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-77-cents and the euro at 20-rand-41-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-97-cents and Bitcoin trades at 70-thousand-949-dollars-20-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-322-dollars-80-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-46-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Ten students from around the country are the second batch of bursary recipients to benefit from reigning Miss South Africa Natasha Joubert’s educational advocacy campaign, the Natasha Joubert Collective. This is in partnership with HyperionDev and computer hardware company ASUS. The campaign offers ten coding scholarships for selected students to join a comprehensive six-month full-stack web developer boot camp. Six of the recipients are from Gauteng, and one each from the Western Cape, Northern Cape, Free State and Limpopo.  

Stay tuned for more news………….