News 15:00

BULLETIN June 1st 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# SA Chamber of Commerce expresses concern about a possible coalition government
# The wanted Gupta brothers complain of, what they call, South Africa’s ‘witch-hunt’ against them
# And, tennis: Djokovic can equal Federer’s record for Grand Slam match wins today

# The South African Chamber of Commerce and Industry has expressed concern about a possible coalition government. With the ANC’s worst electoral performance in this week’s elections, it might be forced to go into coalitions with opposition parties to govern. The chamber’s, president, Mtho Xulu, says a coalition may be detrimental to the country’s economy:

Meanwhile, the ANC remains in the lead nationally as the Electoral Commission is nearly complete with processing the voting district results. Preliminary results show the ANC at 40.25-percent followed by the DA at 21.7-percent and the MK Party at 14.66-percent. In KwaZulu-Natal, MK is leading with 45.32-percent followed by the IFP at 18.04-percent and the ANC third with 17-percent. In Gauteng, the ANC leads with 34.75-percent followed by the DA at 27.59-percent and the EFF at 12.9-percent. In the Western Cape, the DA is maintaining its majority with 55.3-percent followed by the ANC at 19.52-percent and the Patriotic Alliance with 7.82-percent of the votes.

# India has given the Gupta brothers Rajesh and Atul permission to visit their ailing mother. They claimed in a court, regime change in South Africa led to a witch-hunt against them. The brothers asked the Indian court for assurance they won’t be detained there in connection with matters linked to South Africa. Rajesh and Atul Gupta are wanted for state capture crimes, including for fraud and money laundering. The National Prosecuting Authority is trying to get the United Arab Emirates to extradite them after they were arrested in Dubai in 2022.   

# Tennis: Novak Djokovic can equal Roger Federer’s record for Grand Slam match wins by beating Lorenzo Musetti at the French Open today. Defending champion Djokovic will go level with the retired Federer on 369 victories at the Slams if he sees off the Italian 30th seed and makes the last 16. Djokovic has defeated Musetti four times in five meetings. The Italian did give the Serb a major scare at the French Open in 2021 when he won the first two sets before retiring injured in the decider.

# And, finally: With today being World Milk Day, the Western Cape Department of Agriculture is celebrating the dairy industry, and acknowledging the critical role of milk as an essential food product. World Milk Day, established by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations in 2001, highlights the importance of milk as a global food and celebrates the dairy sector. The department’s Ilse Trautmann says last year South Africa became a net exporter of dairy products for the first time since 2014:

Stay tuned for more news………….