News 15:00

BULLETIN 30 May 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Referendum Party says the worst-case scenarios look to be coming true 
# SANEF is concerned with the safety of journalists
# And tennis: David Goffin hits out at the hooligan fans at the French Open 

# The leader of the Referendum Party, Phil Craig, says the doomsday scenario predicted by the party and warned against by the DA is emerging, resulting in a weakened ANC national government, without an outright majority. Craig says the immediate future for South Africa is terrifying. He adds initial results indicate voters in the Western Cape have been unwilling to vote against the DA in order to force a referendum on Cape Independence:

Meanwhile, the Patriotic Alliance has shown remarkable growth in the Western Cape and nationally. Led by Gayton McKenzie, the party is currently in third place in the Western Cape, surpassing the EFF. The DA leads, followed by the ANC. Nationally, the PA ranks fifth behind the ANC, the DA, the EFF, and the MK Party. The party was formed in 2013 and has been gaining momentum over the past ten-years.

Preliminary results from the Electoral Commission a short while ago showed the ANC was leading with 43.4-percent. The DA followed with 24.82-percent while the EFF was on 8.82-percent. The MK Party and the Patriotic Alliance are among the top five nationally, with 8.05- and 4.09-percent respectively.

Meanwhile, the South African Editors Forum has expressed concern over the safety of journalists during the election. Speaking at the IEC results centre, Sanef chairperson Sbu Ngalwa said reporters are likely to become targets to criminal activity during coverage. Ngalwa urged measures to be put in place to ensure their protection in the different reporting areas across the country:

# Tennis: David Goffin was left enraged by the crowd at the French Open in his five-set win over home favourite Giovanni Mpetshi Perricard. The frustrated Belgian cupped his ear in a gesture towards the crowd, and explained how he had to hold his nerve to see out a tense victory against the 20-year-old. He was loudly booed after the victory. Goffin has called for action to be taken by the authorities in order to curtail such instances of crowd behaviour.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-66-cents and the euro at 20-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-73-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-885-dollars-71-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-386-dollars-7-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-12-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….