News 15:00

BULLETIN 7 August 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Public Works minister opens a criminal case over the Independent Development Trust bribery scandal
# President Cyril Ramaphosa and US counterpart Donald Trump commit to ongoing bilateral trade engagements
# And golf: Jon Rahm wants more opportunities for LIV players to earn world rankings points

# Public Works and Infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has opened a criminal case at the Cape Town Central police station against suspended Independent Development Trust CEO Tebogo Malaka and spokesperson Phasha Makgolane. This follows after a video surfaced showing an alleged attempt to bribe a journalist with 60-thousand-rand to bury a corruption story, linked to an 800-million-rand tender. Macpherson says the bribery attempt is an attack on media freedom:

Meanwhile, the trust’s board will deliberate on these bribery allegations. This follows the footage released by Daily Maverick investigative journalist Pieter-Louis Myburgh that allegedly implicated Malaka and Makgolane. Malaka is already suspended over the oxygen plant tender. The IDT board says it remains committed to transparency and will issue a detailed response after its review.

# President Cyril Ramaphosa and US counterpart Donald Trump have committed to ongoing bilateral trade engagements. This follows a telephone conversation where the two leaders discussed key economic matters, including the new 30-percent US tariffs on certain South African exports, effective from midnight today. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says government is working to protect South Africa’s trade interests as global economic pressures increase:

# For a third day in a row, firefighters battled to contain France’s biggest wildfire in nearly eight decades, which has burnt over 16-thousand hectares, and destroyed dozens of houses. Reuters reports plumes of smoke rising over the forest area in the region of Aude in southern France. Local authorities say one person has died, three are missing and two people including a firefighter are in critical condition. The blaze, around 100-kilometres from the border with Spain and not far from the Mediterranean Sea, began on Tuesday and has spread rapidly.

# Golf: Two-time major champion Jon Rahm of Spain says more needs to be done to evaluate other ways to create world rankings points opportunities. LIV Golf reapplied for world ranking points in June following the league’s initial attempt. This was denied in October 2023 for reasons including the lack of a cut in LIV events and limited field sizes. The world ranking is one of the main pathways for players to qualify for the major championships. Rahm says positive discussions are happening:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-72-cents and the euro at 20-rand-69-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-78-cents and Bitcoin trades at 116-thousand-704-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-380-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….