News 17:00

BULLETIN 2 June 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA demands that Parliament summon minister Nkabane over a secret SETA panel
# Pemmy Majodina warns infrastructure is deliberately vandalised to secure tenders
# And tennis, the teenager Mirra Andreeva and Coco Gauff are through to the quarter-finals at the French Open

# The DA calls on Parliament to summon Higher Education and Training minister Nobuhle Nkabane to account for a secret panel that selected board chairpersons for Sector Education and Training Authorities. The party says Nkabane refused to reveal the names of individuals she allegedly handpicked to evaluate over 500 applications, ultimately appointing 20 ANC loyalists. The DA’s Karabo Khakhau says this is vital to promote transparency and prevent political interference in important public institutions:

# Water and Sanitation minister Pemmy Majodina says infrastructure is being deliberately vandalised to secure tenders. This comes as Rand Water completes maintenance in Gauteng today. The planned maintenance is aimed at ensuring long-term, uninterrupted water supply. Majodina says discussions with municipalities are ongoing and has directed municipalities to insource water tankers for emergencies only, amid efforts to curb the water tanker mafia:

# Business Leadership South Africa says decisive intervention is needed to fix the financial crisis in municipalities. In her weekly newsletter, CEO Busisiwe Mavuso said the Auditor-General’s latest report shows metros are failing to manage their finances, with only Cape Town receiving a clean audit. Johannesburg and Tshwane have billions in unauthorised spending and poor infrastructure planning. According to Mavuso, poor management affects service delivery and economic growth, calling for skilled professionals and stronger oversight to fix the problem.

# Britain announced it will build 12 new attack submarines as it launched a major defence review to move the country to war-fighting readiness. Prime Minister Keir Starmer warned that the threat they now face is more serious, more immediate and more unpredictable than at any time since the Cold War. He says they face war in Europe, new nuclear risks, daily cyber-attacks and growing Russian aggression.

# Tennis: Russian teenager Mirra Andreeva dug deep to reach the French Open quarter-finals for a second consecutive year with a straight-sets victory over Daria Kasatkina. The 18-year-old, seeded sixth at Roland Garros, sealed a 6-3, 7-5 win against Russian-born Australian Kasatkina, ranked 17. Coco Gauff reached a fifth successive French Open quarter-final as the world number two brushed Russian 20th seed Ekaterina Alexandrova aside 6-0, 7-5. The 21-year-old Gauff will play reigning Australian Open champion Madison Keys in an all-American quarter-final.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-90-cents and the euro at 20-rand-42-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-14-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-353-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-27-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….