News 17:00

BULLETIN 23 June 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The escalation of the Middle East conflict could spike South Africa’s fuel prices
# Ten more SANDF soldiers are arrested in connection with a Hawks officer’s murder
# And Kirsty Coventry becomes the IOC’s first female president

# South Africa could face steep fuel price hikes as Middle Eastern tensions soar. Global oil prices surged following Israel’s strikes on Iran, and US bombings of Iranian nuclear sites. Analysts from Oilprice.com warn prices may shot up if Iran retaliates by closing the strategic international trade route, the Strait of Hormuz. Although most of South Africa’s oil is imported from Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, the lower overall supply, weakened rand and disrupted supply chains will impact prices broadly.

# Ten more South African National Defence Force members have been arrested in connection with the murder of Hawks officer Frans Mathipa, bringing the total number of accused to twelve. The ten handed themselves over to the Hawks in Johannesburg and are due to appear in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court. Mathipa was fatally shot on the N1 near Hammanskraal, Pretoria, in August last year. He had been investigating the alleged abduction of a suspected ISIS leader, Abdella Abadiga.

# The DA says 29 schools in Gauteng have been damaged by fires since 2019, exposing major weaknesses in fire safety measures. Of these, only six have been repaired by the provincial Department of Infrastructure Development, while 13 remain unattended. Ten were restored through insurance, donations, and school governing bodies. The DA’s Sergio Isa dos Santos calls for urgent upgrades to fire safety infrastructure and firefighting equipment:

# The Freedom Front Plus says it is time for the City of Cape Town to take over supplying electricity to certain areas in the metro from Eskom. The metro currently supplies power to 75-percent of Cape Town, while the power utility supplies the other 25-percent directly. FF Plus’s Emre Uygun says the areas supplied by Eskom frequently suffer outages lasting anywhere from weeks to months:

# On to sports news: The first female president of the International Olympic Committee, Kirsty Coventry, pledged to strengthen and extend the Games’ reach when she took over the role in Lausanne, Switzerland. The 41-year-old former Zimbabwean Olympic swimming champion takes over from Germany’s Thomas Bach, who led for 12 years. Coventry says she was honoured to walk the journey from being an athlete to becoming the world’s most powerful sports administrator, knowing she has the best team to support her and the movement over the next eight years.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-12-cents and the euro at 20-rand-79-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-27-cents and Bitcoin trades at 101-thousand-321-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-368-dollars-19-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-89-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….