News 16:00

BULLETIN 31 May 4 pm

Goodnafternoon. I am…..

In this bulletin:

# The DA reports doubling votes among black South Africans
# Solidarity wins a court battle against the appointment of Cuban engineers
# And rugby: Ben-Jason Dixon is to play his 50th match for the Stormers against the Lions

# DA leader John Steenhuisen says the party has increased its votes among black South Africans according to the current trajectory. Speaking at the IEC Results Operations Centre in Midrand, Steenhuisen expressed happiness with the party’s performance so far and looks forward to the multi-party charter meeting after the election. He voiced hope that the upward trend in black support for the DA will continue as further results come in:

Meanwhile, the National Coloured Congress is elated with their current results in the Western Cape. With over two-percent support, party secretary Paul Bester says they are ready to bring change in the province. Bester says education is a key focus area with the party vowing to fight for increased opportunities for marginalised communities. He says the NCC will also intensify service delivery efforts in the province:

Preliminary results from the Electoral Commission a short time ago showed the ANC was leading with 41.78-percent after 67.69-percent of the voting districts were processed. The DA followed with 22.63-percent while the MK Party was on 12.08-percent. The EFF and the IFP are among the top five nationally, with 9.5- and 3.07-percent respectively.  The Electoral Commission meanwhile has announced the Northern Cape is the first province to declare its results across all 730 voting districts.  The ANC got 49.34-percent of the votes, with the DA 21.19-percent and the EFF 13.25-percent.

# Solidarity has won a court battle against government’s appointment of Cuban engineers in South Africa. The High Court in Pretoria ruled that the 2020 appointments by then Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation minister Lindiwe Sisulu were unlawful and constitutionally invalid. The department also has to pay the legal costs. Solidarity deputy chief executive, Anton van der Bijl, says South Africans were overlooked for costly foreign workers, costing approximately 75-million-rand. He emphasises the need for proper processes in future appointments.

# Rugby: Flank Ben-Jason Dixon will make his 50th appearance for the Stormers in tomorrow’s United Rugby Championship clash with the Lions in Cape Town. There is an all-new front row of props Neethling Fouché and Sti Sithole, and hooker André-Hugo Venter. In the backline Wandisile Simelane comes in at outside centre to replace the injured Damian Willemse. Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu replaces Warrick Gelant at fullback. The Stormers end the regular season with a South African derby in front of their home crowd, which kicks off at 1:45.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-71-cents and the euro at 20-rand-31-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-79-cents and Bitcoin trades at 68-thousand-409-dollars-35-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-344-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 81-dollars-88-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….