News 15:00

BULLETIN 10 July 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Naledi Pandor compares the Palestinian plight to South African apartheid
# Minister Macpherson reveals massive cyber theft at the Department of Public Works and Infrastructure
# And, Olympics: Team Great Britain targets between 50 and 70 medals in Paris

# Former minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor has drawn parallels between the struggles of Palestinians and South Africans during apartheid. Speaking at Rhodes University in Makhanda in the Eastern Cape, she noted that, unlike South Africans who received guidance in their fight against oppression, its taken global nations months to address the issues in Gaza. Pandor emphasised the need for a peaceful resolution to the Israel-Hamas conflict:

# Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, has disclosed cyber theft amounting to at least 300-million-rand over the past decade. The most recent attack saw 24-million-rand stolen in May. Four officials have been suspended, and 30 laptops seized. Macpherson says a comprehensive forensic investigation is underway, involving the Hawks, police, the State Security Agency, and cyber security experts:

# South Africa’s strike season threatens 1.6-million work days, driven by high unemployment and economic instability. Experts say the recent strikes, affecting mining, public transport, healthcare, and others, reflect deep-seated economic challenges. Rhodes University’s Lucien van der Walt is advocating for the use of a Swedish model in which workers are offered shares as a solution. The unions, however, have remained wary of share schemes, fearing that they could weaken bargaining power. Van der Walt has also criticised neglect of institutions like Nedlac, crucial for economic cooperation.

# Olympics: UK Sport has set a target of between 50 and 70 medals for Team Great Britain at the Paris Games. A total of 327 athletes will represent the country from the 26th of this month. Great Britain won 64 medals at the previous Games in Tokyo, 67 in Rio in 2016, and 65 at home in London in 2012. The team will compete in 24 of the 32 sporting codes. UK Sport’s director of Performance, Kate Baker, believes her compatriots can make history this year.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-7-cents and the euro at 19-rand-56-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 58-thousand-553-dollars-81-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-373-dollars-63-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-40-cents a barrel.

# And, the Southern African Fraud Prevention Service’s CEO, Manie van Schalkwyk, warns South Africans against taking the South African Revenue Service’s auto-assessment at face value. Van Schalkwyk says SARS is increasingly gravitating towards an auto-assessment system for qualifying taxpayers. He says they then either qualify for a rebate or have to pay money to SARS. He adds that scammers are contacting taxpayers impersonating SARS and when targeted taxpayers log on to complete their auto-assessment, they are redirected to a proxy website where scammers will use the information they fill in on the form.

Stay tuned for more news………….