News 13:00

BULLETIN 31 July 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Constitutional Court rules in favour of Vodacom in the “Please Call Me” battle
# A father is sentenced to life imprisonment for the continued rape of his daughter in Mamelodi
# And swimming: South Africa’s Pieter Coetzé and Kaylene Corbett through are to the semis in Singapore

# The Constitutional Court has ordered the Supreme Court of Appeal to re-consider Vodacom’s case in the long-running “Please Call Me” dispute with inventor Nkosana Makate. Vodacom challenged the SCA’s ruling that ordered a new compensation offer beyond the 47-million-rand initially proposed. Makate is seeking 9.4-billion-rand. Retiring acting deputy chief Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga found flaws in the SCA’s reasoning, raising concerns of a failure of justice:

Madlanga retires today, ending a distinguished 17-year career on the bench. The Constitutional Court will hold a special sitting. Appointed South Africa’s youngest judge in 1997, Madlanga’s career highlights include representing the country at the International Court of Justice in 2004 and leading evidence at the Marikana commission into the killing of 34 striking mineworkers in 2012. He now chairs the commission of inquiry into alleged political interference in policing.

# The National Prosecuting Authority has welcomed the life imprisonment imposed by the Pretoria Magistrate’s Court on a 64-year-old father from Mamelodi, Pretoria, for the repeated rape of his daughter. The abuse began when the victim was nine-years-old in 2010, and continued until she was 19-years-old in 2020, occurring during weekends and school holidays when the victim would visit him. The NPA’s regional spokesperson, Lumka Mahanjana, says the abuse came to light in 2021:

# Cosatu is calling on the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee to cut the repo rate by at least 25 basis points at its meeting today. Most economists predict a repo rate cut due to inflation remaining tame. Cosatu’s spokesperson, Zanele Sabela, says even though the rate of inflation has ticked up marginally, the committee still has ample room to manoeuvre, particularly as inflation still lingers at the bottom of the three-to-six-percent target range:

# Swimming: South Africa’s Pieter Coetzé is through to the 200-metres backstroke semifinals at the World Aquatics Championships in Singapore. Fresh from winning a gold medal in the 100-metre backstroke, the 21-year-old qualified with a time of one-minute-57.11-seconds. Kaylene Corbett powered into the women’s 200-metres breaststroke semifinals with a time of two-minute-25.1-second, third-fastest in heat three. Becky Meder and Erin Gallagher failed to advance in the 200-metres breaststroke and 100-metres freestyle, respectively.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-1-cent and the euro at 20-rand-69-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-95-cents and Bitcoin trades at 118-thousand-493-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-310-dollars-47-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-2-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….