News 13:00

BULLETIN 27 June 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Jacob Zuma wants the court to set aside the ANC’s decision to terminate his membership
# The Kenyan High Court halts a media blackout on protests
# And rugby: The British and Irish Lions’ coach rings the changes for the match against Western Force

# MK Party president Jacob Zuma has launched a High Court application against the ANC and its president Cyril Ramaphosa. He wants the court to set aside what he says is the unlawful decision of the ANC to terminate his 65 year-long membership. Zuma was expelled from the ANC last year for his role in the formation of the MK Party. The party says it is fully behind Zuma in this ground-breaking case which will hopefully see his dual membership of the MK Party and the real ANC, restored.

# The Public Servants Association has welcomed the recent approval of a 27-billion-rand loan by the World Bank, but cautions regarding the possibility of looting. The loan is aimed at unlocking long-delayed structural reforms across the country’s infrastructure backbone. The PSA’s Claude Naiker says National Treasury must establish a multi-disciplinary team to ensure that no unscrupulous hand is allowed anywhere near public finance:

# Build One South Africa says it’s unacceptable that more than five-million-rand has been spent to fund the salaries of eleven police members currently suspended on full pay. This includes a lieutenant general who has been sitting at home since July 2022. BOSA’s spokesperson, Roger Solomons, says in a parliamentary question, Police minister Senzo Mchunu revealed that several sergeants and constables were suspended earlier this year with payments ranging from 35-thousand- to 56-thousand-rand each:

# The High Court in Milimani has suspended the Communications Authority of Kenya’s directive blocking live coverage of demonstrations. This comes after 16 people died in fresh protests marking the anniversary of deadly tax bill protests, and the death of political blogger Albert Ojwang in police custody. Justice Chacha Mwita ruled that the order raised serious constitutional concerns, including violations of media freedom and the Bill of Rights. The court ordered all affected broadcast signals affecting Citizen TV, Kenya Television Network, NTV, and K24, be restored immediately.

# Rugby: Ireland’s Dan Sheehan will captain the British and Irish Lions on his debut when they face Western Force in Perth, Australia, on Saturday. Coach Andy Farrell has responded to their defeat to Argentina in Dublin last week by making 13 changes. Garry Ringrose, James Lowe, Joe McCarthy and Josh van der Flier will also make their debuts in the starting line-up. The starting side consists of eight Irish players, four from Scotland, two from England and Tomos Williams as the only Welshman.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-69-cents and the euro at 20-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-31-cents and Bitcoin trades at 107-thousand-550-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-340-dollars-28-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-32-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….