News 14:00

BULLETIN 16 July 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Presidency denies claims of an employee harassing ANC member Lindiwe Sisulu
# KwaZulu-Natal’s premier confirms over 30-million-rand in losses following veld fires
# And tennis: Nadal faces Björn Borg’s son in the first round in Bastad

# The Presidency has dismissed ANC veteran Lindiwe Sisulu’s claims of harassment by a staff member on the social media platform X. According to News24, Sisulu alleges that an account called Goolam harassed her and that investigations indicate the account was operated by someone within the Presidency. She believes the attacks began after she contested for the ANC leadership position in 2022. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has urged Sisulu to report any wrongdoing for a thorough investigation.

# KwaZulu-Natal premier Thami Ntuli is leading an oversight visit to areas affected by the veld fires where over 200 families lost homes in Kenville and six firefighters died in Boston. Ntuli says the fire also affected farmers and livestock, causing 30-million-rand in damages. The premier emphasises the need for government to declare the area a state of disaster. He also calls for collaborations to prevent future fires:

# Agricultural organisation TLU SA wants president Cyril Ramaphosa to emphasise the necessity of applying stronger economic considerations and implementing sound principles for sustainable economic growth during his opening of Parliament address. Spokesperson Bennie van Zyl says the government of national unity recently confirmed that transformation is still one of its main objectives, but the organisation believes the type of transformation that has taken place over the last 30 years has caused significant damage:

# Communications minister Solly Malatsi will meet with the SABC, eMedia, and MultiChoice to resolve longstanding sports broadcasting rights issues. This comes as major sporting events often go to pay channels, sidelining free-to-air options. During his 3.9-billion-rand mini plenaries budget presentation, Malatsi highlighted challenges facing the SABC and free-to-air sports broadcasting. Malatsi and Sports minister Gayton McKenzie aim to explore solutions this week.

# Tennis: Clay-court maestro Rafael Nadal has drawn Swedish great Björn Borg’s son, Leo, in the first round of the Nordea Open in Bastad, Sweden. The Spaniard uses the tournament to prepare for the Olympics, played at Roland Garros in Paris where he has clinched 14 French Open titles during his illustrious career. Twenty-one-year-old Borg says he looked up to 38-year-old Nadal during his early tennis years rather than to his father, who won 11 Grand Slam tournaments between 1974 and ’81. He and Nadal regularly practices together.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-9-cents and the euro at 19-rand-7-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-47-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-341-dollars-34-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-441-dollars-69-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-18-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….