News 16:00

BULLETIN 30 July 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party warns the public is tired of costly commissions with no outcomes
# Two more arrests are made in the 2023 murder of a DA councillor in KwaZulu-Natal
# And cycling: Tadej Pogačar will miss next month’s Vuelta a España

# The MK Party says the public is tired of costly commissions of inquiry that deliver no meaningful outcomes and weaken trust in government. This comes as the Madlanga commission is set to investigate allegations of criminality, political interference, and corruption in policing made by KwaZulu-Natal police commissioner Nhlanhla Mkhwanazi. Former president Jacob Zuma’s lawyer, Dali Mpofu, told the Constitutional Court past inquiries, like the Zondo commission on state capture, cost billions of rand and changed little:

Meanwhile, the KwaZulu-Natal political killings task team have arrested two more people in connection with the 2023 murder of DA councillor Nhlalayenza Ndlovu. They are a 56-year-old chief and the 26-year-old alleged mastermind who coordinated the hit from prison. Ndlovu was shot and killed at his home in the Mpophomeni area in Howick. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says the duo will appear in the local Magistrate’s Court tomorrow, joining two others:

# Former Limpopo Safety and Security MEC and disbarred senior advocate, Seth Nthai, has pleaded guilty to one count of corruption. Nthai admitted that in 2009 he solicited a five- million-rand bribe from an Italian businessman while representing the South African government in a mining dispute . His name was also removed from the roll of advocates in 2013. Nthai struck a plea deal with prosecutors, receiving a 500-thousand-rand fine or two years in prison . The charges stem from a long-running case initiated in 2022.

Moving abroad:

# Turkish company Karpowership is branching into waterborne data centres to meet surging artificial intelligence-driven demand. Its Kinetics unit aims to bypass land-based construction delays by building the centres in shipyards. A 73-megawatts pilot project with Japan’s Mitsui OSK Lines is set for 2027. Using seawater for cooling, the company says these floating hubs promise greater energy efficiency. Kinetics will focus on the US, European Union, and Australia first, with plans to expand into emerging markets later.

# Cycling: Four-time Tour de France winner, Tadej Pogačar, will miss this year’s edition of the Vuelta a España in Spain as he has opted to rest and prepare for his World Championship road race title defence. The 26-year-old Slovenian clinched his fourth Tour title on Sunday. The Vuelta is the only one of the three Grand Tours that Pogačar has not won. He plans to return to competition in the Canadian one-day races in Quebec and Montreal in mid-September, a week before the World Championships begin in Rwanda.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-89-cents and the euro at 20-rand-60-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-89-cents and Bitcoin trades at 117-thousand-726-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-330-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….