News 17:00

BULLETIN 26 May 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# ActionSA demands the Labour minister’s dismissal over rising unemployment
# Former DRC president Kabila joins the M23 rebels amid treason charges
# And tennis: Lloyd Harris from South Africa returns to the French Open main draw

# ActionSA calls on president Cyril Ramaphosa to fire Employment and Labour minister Nomakhosazana Meth for failing to tackle the growing unemployment crisis. The party says the latest quarterly labour force survey shows over 291-thousand jobs were lost in the first quarter of this year, the worst contraction since 2021. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley says keeping Meth in the job shows government is comfortable with failure while millions suffer:

# NotInMyName International has expressed strong opposition to proposed amendments to South Africa’s tripple B-EE policy, warning they could undermine decades of economic redress. The movement raised alarm over reports suggesting the changes aim to ease Starlink’s market entry at the expense of empowerment goals. It called for full transparency, stakeholder consultation, and firm compliance by all foreign firms. The organisation says technology must not override transformation.

# The GOOD Party says the DA has outrageously washed its hands of responsibility for transforming the culture of gangsterism in the Western Cape until it is given control of the police. During the Oval Office meeting last week, business magnate Johann Rupert claimed that the DA is struggling to get the murder rate in the Cape Flats under control. GOOD’s secretary general, Brett Herron, says the latest crime statistics reveal that nearly 90-percent of the country’s gang murders occur in the Western Cape:

# Former Democratic Republic of Congo president Joseph Kabila has reportedly arrived in territory held by rebels of the M23 and Allied Revolutionary Coalition. This comes days after the Senate lifted his immunity to face treason and war crimes charges. The rebels hailed Kabila as a soldier of the people, declaring his presence a boost to their uprising. Kinshasa is expected to respond strongly, calling the move an open rebellion. Uganda reportedly blocked Kabila’s border entry, citing regional security risks. The development threatens to escalate tensions across eastern Congo and beyond.

#  Tennis: South African Lloyd Harris will play Russian Andrey Rublev in the first round of the French Open tomorrow after having to qualify for the claycourt Grand Slam tournament. Repetitive injuries caused the 28-year-old to slide down the world rankings, from 31st in September 2021 to his current 224th position. Harris beat the 2014 US Open champion, Marin Cilic of Croatia, in the final qualifying round in Paris on Saturday to earn his place in the main draw. Rublev is seeded 17th at Roland Garros.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-87-cents and the euro at 20-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-22-cents and Bitcoin trades at 109-thousand-876-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-334-dollars-18-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-99-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….