News 16:00

BULLETIN 30 May 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The IEC say the focus has now shifted to counting
# Gwede Mantashe is confident of an ANC victory
# And soccer: Hansi Flick is appointed as Barcelona’s new coach

# The Electoral Commission says the focus has shifted to counting after all voting stations closed by three this morning. Final results are expected over the weekend. A record of 70 political parties and eleven independent candidates contested the election, with South Africans voting for a new parliament and nine provincial legislatures. IEC spokesperson Kate Bapela confirmed that party agents, independent candidate agents, and observers are overseeing the entire counting and results process:

ANC national chairperson Gwede Mantashe has expressed confidence the party will win the elections. Speaking at the National Results Operation Centre, Mantashe said the ANC is not afraid to face the outcomes of the elections. Mantashe also claimed the media played a major role in voter perceptions. He added that final results will determine if the ANC forms coalitions:

Meanwhile, preliminary results from the Electoral Commission a short while ago showed the ANC was leading with 43.37-percent. The DA followed with 24.8-percent while the EFF was on 8.9-percent. The MK Party and the Patriotic Alliance are among the top five nationally, with 8.04- and 4.08-percent respectively.

# Transnet is set to take legal action against Nedbank over disputed interest rate swap transactions linked to Gupta-associated Regiments Capital. Mediation efforts have failed, prompting Transnet to pursue court proceedings, believing Nedbank has a case to answer. The bank denies wrongdoing and plans to defend itself vigorously, maintaining it was unaware of any collusive relationships involving the company or the Guptas. The dispute was highlighted in the state capture inquiry, recommending further investigation into the bank’s role in these transactions.

# Soccer: Barcelona appointed former Bayern Munich and Germany boss Hansi Flick as coach on a deal which runs till June 2026. This follows the sacking of Xavi Hernandez last week. Flick, who led German giants Bayern to a historic sextuple of trophies in 2020, became the first coach ever to be sacked by the German national team in September last year after a string of bad results.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-61-cents and the euro at 20-rand-13-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-65-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-945-dollars-98-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-336-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-98-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….