News 14:00

BULLETIN 30 April 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The South African Policing Union calls for information regarding the missing car in police deaths
# The Legal Practice Council withdraws three of Dali Mpofu’s misconduct charges
# And, the PSA slams the Transport Department for failing to fix a 20-year-old licence machine

# The South African Policing Union has called on members of the public with information regarding the missing car the three Free State police officers were travelling in, to come forward. The officers went missing en route from Bloemfontein to Limpopo for a three-month deployment under Operation Vala Umgodi. Their bodies were found in the Hennops River in Centurion. SAPU’s Lesiba Thobakgale says the deaths are a loss to the police:

# The Legal Practice Council hearing against advocate Dali Mpofu has been postponed in Pretoria. The delay was caused by electricity issues and the council’s decision to amend the charge sheet. Mpofu confirmed that three of the seven charges have been withdrawn, and a new charge sheet will be provided to his legal team. He called the charges a baseless attack on black professionals:

# The Public Servants Association says delays in renewing driving licences are unacceptable, as South Africa’s only licence card printer has been broken since February. The PSA is calling on the Department of Transport to urgently repair or replace the outdated machine, which has been in use for over 20-years. The association’s Claude Naiker warns that irregular procurement processes and court battles are worsening the crisis and suggests extending licence validity to ten-years to ease pressure.

# A US official has told the International Court of Justice there were “serious concerns” about the impartiality of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees. ICJ judges are holding a week of hearings to help them formulate an advisory opinion on Israel’s obligations towards UN agencies delivering aid to Palestinians in Gaza. Around 40 nations, including South Africa, and organisations such as the League of Arab States are taking part. Israel is not participating, but has dismissed the hearings as “part of the systematic persecution and delegitimisation” of the country.

# Rugby: The good news for Springbok fans is that World Cup hero Pieter-Steph du Toit is back in Japan after a shoulder operation, but it is still unclear when he will be playing again. He last played in November and his team, Verblitz, is struggling in the relegation zone with only two league matches to play. Du Toit needs to get match fit before the Boks take on the Barbarians on 28 June.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-61-cents and the euro at 21-rand-15-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-86-cents and Bitcoin trades at 94-thousand-930-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-278-dollars-74-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 62-dollars-72-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….