News 14:00

BULLETIN 11 April 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Zuma’s private prosecution of Ramaphosa has been postponed to 6 August
# Business confidence in the Western Cape is the highest in South Africa
# And, tennis: Emma Raducanu returns to the Billie Jean King Cup for Great Britain after a two-year absence

# Former president Jacob Zuma’s private prosecution of president Cyril Ramaphosa has been postponed to 6 August by the High Court in Johannesburg. The delay permits Zuma to refute Ramaphosa’s papers against his appeal of a Supreme Court of Appeal ruling that the prosecution is unlawful and unconstitutional. He wants to prosecute Ramaphosa as an accessory after the fact in connection with another case involving state prosecutor Billy Downer and journalist Karyn Maughan. Zuma’s lawyer, Dali Mpofu, denies the prosecution is unlawful:

# Western Cape MEC for Finance and Economic Opportunities, Mireille Wenger, says business confidence in the province is higher than any other province and higher than South Africa’s business confidence level. That’s according to the most recent Rand Merchant Bank and Bureau for Economic Research’s Business Confidence Index. Wenger says the BCI reported a 3-point uptick in confidence levels in the Western Cape from the fourth quarter of 2023 to the first quarter of this year, improving from 37 points to 40 out of a possible 100:

# The DA plans to take legal action against the ANC, the EFF and the Patriotic Alliance coalition in Johannesburg for alleged wasteful spending. According to the party, the coalition approved spending of over three-million-rand per month on VIP protection and luxury vehicles for council executives, a move they oppose. They accuse the coalition of prioritising luxury perks over the needs of residents. Vowing to fight corruption, the DA’s Belinda Kayser-Echeozonjoku calls for the dissolution of council:

# Tennis: Emma Raducanu returns to the Billie Jean King Cup for Great Britain after a two-year absence. The 2021 US Open champion only represented her country in 2022. British number one Katie Boulter says the young player will be welcomed with open arms. Great Britain faces France in the qualifying round this weekend, and Boulter regards the opponents, led by world number 23 Caroline (Carolien) Garcia, as favourites to win the tie. Raducanu has dropped to 302nd in the world rankings after undergoing several operations last year.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-82-cents and the euro at 20-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-60-cents and Bitcoin trades at 70-thousand-739-dollars-7-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-335-dollars-75-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

# And, 14-year-old Irish actress Alisha Weir is featured on the new Forbes 30 Under 30 Europe list. She is the second-youngest person on the list in Forbes Under 30 Europe Entertainment history. Others who have made the list include Alejandro Benlloch and Bruno Casanovas, who founded the fast-growing Spanish streetwear line Take the Nude Project. The 300 founders and entrepreneurs featured on this year’s list consist of 30-percent women, 62-percent men and one-percent non-binary, and have a total social media following of over 262-million.

Stay tuned for more news………….