News 16:00

BULLETIN 3 July 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Pemmy Majodina’s pronunciation mishap sparks laughter in Parliament
# The Public Protector vindicates the DA over the irregular appointment of the Tembisa hospital’s CEO
# And soccer: Uefa investigates a Turkish defender’s ultra-nationalist salute during Euro 2024

# President Cyril Ramaphosa’s new government of national unity has been inaugurated in Cape Town. Chief Justice Raymond Zondo oversaw the swearing-in ceremony where deputy president Paul Mashatile, 32 ministers and 43 deputies took their oaths. During the ceremony, Water and Sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina’s attempt to pronounce the word conscientiously sparked laughter in Parliament, with Zondo eventually helping her: 

Meanwhile, the National Union of Mineworkers has expressed disappointment at the appointment of DA leader John Steenhuisen as the minister of Agriculture. He takes over from Thoko Didiza. The union’s spokesperson, Luphert Chilwane, says Steenhuisen needs to be reminded that South Africa remains a food insecure country at homestead level, and therefore his department must commit more effort to ensure food security:

# The DA says it’s vindicated by the Public Protector’s finding of irregularities in the appointment of the late Ashley Mthunzi as Tembisa Hospital CEO in Gauteng in July 2021. The report reveals the department failed to conduct the necessary personnel checks. Mthunzi was suspended after one-billion-rand in fraudulent contracts were exposed. The Public Protector recommends appointing a service provider to check all senior officials’ suitability to prevent further corruption. The DA’s Jack Bloom welcomed these findings:

# Australian police are searching for a twelve-year-old child who was reportedly attacked by a crocodile while swimming. The alert was raised last night in Palumpa, a remote Northern Territory town about seven hours drive from Darwin. Police officials in boats are now searching a creek for the child, with members of the local community assisting. There are more than 100-thousand crocodiles, some as big as six metres, in the Northern Territory – an area more than six times the size of the UK. Fatal attacks on humans are however relatively rare.

# Soccer: European governing body Uefa is investigating Turkish defender Merih Demiral for an ultra-nationalist salute during yesterday’s Euro 2024 round of 16 victory over Austria. He celebrated his second goal with a gesture associated with the far-right extremist group Grey Wolves that are linked with Turkey’s ruling coalition party, the National Movement Party. The gesture is banned in Austria and France. Demiral said afterwards he planned it before the match because he is a very proud Turk.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-50-cents and the euro at 19-rand-90-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-51-cents and Bitcoin trades at 60-thousand-146-dollars-33-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-346-dollars-93-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-35-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….