News 16:00

BULLETIN 3 June 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA blames the government of national unity for the mass unemployment and industrial decline
# Cosatu urges support for teachers’ assistants to become permanent educators
# And cricket: It’s the final day in the IPL and Kohli wants that trophy

# ActionSA says the latest economic growth figures confirm the economy is in crisis, with growth at just 0.1-percent in the first three months of this year. The party blames the government of national unity for failing to create jobs or revive key sectors like mining and manufacturing, which both shrank. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley called for urgent reforms, including fixing energy and freight infrastructure and cutting red tape to boost local industry:

# The DA is calling for deeper cuts to red tape delaying renewable energy projects. According to the party, the Western Cape is working to speed up environmental approvals, but national rules are still too strict, and some projects take too long to process. The DA’s Dave Bryant wants a formal deal with the national government to make approvals simpler and faster:

# Cosatu calls for strong support for teachers’ assistants to become permanent teachers, opening career paths for young people. The federation says this will help improve education, reduce the high teacher-to-learner ratio and fight youth unemployment. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks welcomes the restart of the presidential employment stimulus, which sees 200-thousand young people begin work as teaching assistants across the country:

# International Criminal Court judges will hear the war crimes charges against fugitive Ugandan warlord Joseph Kony in September. For the first time in ICC history, the so-called “confirmation of charges” hearing on 9 September will be held in absentia, with Kony still on the run. He is suspected of 39 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, allegedly committed between July 2002 and December 2005 in northern Uganda. Kony founded and led Uganda’s most brutal rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army, in the 1980s.

# Cricket: D-Day has arrived as Virat Kohli’s Royal Challengers Bengaluru and Punjab Kings play in the final of the Indian Premier League at Ahmedabad’s Narendra Modi Stadium. Play starts at 4pm. The two teams locked horns in the first qualifier as well. RCB beat Punjab by eight wickets in a one-sided contest. However, the Shreyas Iyer-led side have since beaten five-time champions Mumbai Indians in the second qualifier to earn another contest against RCB for the trophy. Kohli has never won the IPL but this time his team are the favourites.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-90-cents and the euro at 20-rand-38-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-17-cents and Bitcoin trades at 105-thousand-408-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-354-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-20-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….