News 17:00

BULLETIN 10 April 5 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An election poll indicates political uncertainty
# The Police ministry targets community izimbizo in crime hotspots
# And, tennis: A Spanish player is banned for 15 years for match-fixing

# The Social Research Foundation has revealed declining support for the ruling ANC just six weeks before the 29 May election. News24 reports the poll suggests the MK Party, backed by former president Jacob Zuma, may become the country’s third-largest. The foundation polled one-thousand-835 registered voters this month. The ANC’s support is predicted to be around 37-percent, with the DA at 25-percent. The MK party could receive 13-percent and the EFF 11-percent. The ruling party may need to go into a coalition with a big party to maintain control. 

# The Police Ministry is focusing on enhancing community policing in crime hotspots across three provinces. Spokesperson Lirandzu Themba cites Operation Shanela, resulting in 500-thousand arrests. Themba says Police minister Bheki Cele will lead the community Izimbizo to address serious crimes tomorrow, Friday and Sunday in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng and the Western Cape respectively:

# The DA pledges to work tirelessly to ensure decent services to the residents of Knysna in the Western Cape. They support the government’s decision to lay criminal charges against the Knysna Municipality for failing to implement directives. According to the party, a coalition of corruption has brought the municipality to its knees, resulting in issues like rubbish accumulating and sewage leaks. The DA’s Dion George vows to pursue criminal charges against the municipal manager, Ombali Sebola, if necessary:

# Tennis: Spanish player Aaron Cortes was given a 15-year suspension from the game for match-fixing. The International Tennis Integrity Agency says he admitted to 35 breaches of the Tennis Anti-corruption Programme from 2016 to ’18. It was found he contrived the outcome of events, accepted money to that affect, failed to report corrupt approaches, and provided money to officials in exchange for a wild card entry. Cortes was fined 1.38-million-rand, of which most was suspended. He reached a career-high world ranking of 955 in 2017.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 20-rand-13-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-54-cents and Bitcoin trades at 67-thousand-833-dollars-23-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-330-dollars-3-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-85-cents a barrel.

# And finally, two-time Oscar winner Renee Zellweger is back in Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy, together with Hugh Grant as the rascal Daniel Cleaver. Emma Thompson is back as Bridget’s obstetrician, with 12 Years A Slave star Chiwetel Ejiofor and One Day actor Leo Woodall joining the cast. Mark Darcy, played by Colin Firth, will not be back this time. The fourth film sees Bridget as a 50-plus widow with two children after Mark’s death some years earlier. The film is set for US release on Valentine’s Day next year.

Stay tuned for more news………….