News 16:00

BULLETIN 17 July 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Sakeliga and TLU SA take the Water Department to court over unlawful prescribed debt collection
# Referendum Party says South Africa is the biggest hypocrite on international law
# And tennis: Genie Bouchard will retire at the Canadian Open

# Sakeliga and TLU SA have filed a High Court application to stop the Water and Sanitation Department from unlawfully collecting expired water-use debts. They argue that water charges lapse after three years under the Prescription Act. The department had previously admitted this in 2021 but has since reversed its position. Sakeliga’s Tian Alberts warns that the move threatens food security and job stability, and violates legal debt prescription rules:

# The Public Servants Association has called for an immediate investigation into tender irregularities at South African Tourism, after it granted a 100-million-rand tender to a company with little or no experience that allegedly submitted fake documents. The tender relates to the Africa 2025 programme and the Africa Travel Indaba. The PSA’s Claude Naicker urges minister of Tourism, Patricia de Lille, to take appropriate action:

# The Referendum Party says it is flabbergasted at the outrageous hypocrisy of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation to lecture other states on their selective application of international law. Leader Phil Craig says South Africa has made itself the poster child for double standards. He says the country actively supports the right to self-determination for Palestinians, Western Saharans, and the South Sudanese, whilst opposing it for the Taiwanese, Uyghurs, Hong Kong, Tibet, Israel, the Western Cape, and in practice, Afrikaners:

# Tennis: Former Wimbledon finalist Genie Bouchard will retire after her home tournament, the Canadian Open, later this month. The 31-year-old has accepted a wild card into the main draw. She lost to Petra Kvitova of the Czech Republic in Wimbledon’s final in 2014, and made the Australian Open and French Open semifinals. Bouchard helped her country win their maiden Billie Jean King Cup title in 2023. Canadian Open tournament director, Valerie Tetreault, says Bouchard is a trailblazer who redefined what Canadian tennis could be.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-92-cents and the euro at 20-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-99-cents and Bitcoin trades at 117-thousand-774-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-316-dollars-65-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-20-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Teatime revels in China now include hugs with lion cubs in a four-course afternoon set offered by a restaurant in the north. Customers cradled the lion cubs as if they were babies in pictures and video clips posted online on Chinese chat platforms. The Wanhui restaurant, which opened in June, sells about 20 tickets a day to customers looking to snuggle with the animals as part of a set menu costing about two-thousand-700-rand. Online comments are mostly critical, saying the venture was dangerous and not good for the animals.

Stay tuned for more news………….