News 07:00

BULLETIN 9 June 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Kubayi says advocate Batohi has backtracked on her infiltration claims
# AfriForum is taking the City of Tshwane to court over the new city cleaning levy
# And tennis: Alcaraz beats Sinner in the French Open final

# National Director of Public Prosecutions, Shamila Batohi, has backtracked on her claims that the National Prosecuting Authority has been infiltrated by rogue elements. This is according to Justice and Constitutional Development minister, Mmamoloko Kubayi, who says Batohi told her that she had used the wrong word. Kubayi says while Batohi had walked back her comments, she still expressed concern over allegations of collusion. The minister says she will raise the issue with president Cyril Ramaphosa, to possibly consider launching an investigation into prosecutors involved in such practices.

# The DA says it has submitted urgent Parliamentary questions to Police minister Senzo Mchunu to determine the content of the report by the Inspector-General of Intelligence to establish whether further misconduct has been uncovered. The party says this follows closely on the conclusion of an investigation into unlawful property worth 59-million-rand acquired by Crime Intelligence. The DA’s Dianne Kohler-Barnard, says law enforcement agencies must treat this matter with the urgency it deserves:

# AfriForum says it will be taking the City of Tshwane to court to have the implementation of the new city cleaning levy approved at last week’s council meeting reviewed. The monthly levy, amounting to approximately 200-rand per month, will be levied on all properties that do not currently use the metro’s refuse removal service from July 1st. AfriForum’s Deidré Steffens, says the levy is an additional tax that owners must pay on top of the existing property tax:

# The Forum for South Africa is calling on the National Prosecuting Authority to drop charges of arson, public violence and malicious injury to property against five Walter Sisulu University students in the Eastern Cape. Forum leader, Tebogo Mashilompane, says they were arrested during a protest after the man linked to the death of Sisonke Mbolekwa in April this year was granted ten-thousand-rand bail. He says the failure of the university to address the concerns raised by students encouraged students to protest:

# At least four people were killed by Israeli fire on their way to a food distribution centre in Rafah on Sunday, which is run by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Israel Defence Force says troops fired warning shots after issuing a verbal challenge at a group that was moving towards them and was deemed a threat. The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation’s operations in the coastal enclave have been plagued by deadly shootings, with a total of about 110 Palestinians killed in the past week.

# Tennis: Defending champion Carlos Alcaraz recovered from two sets down and saved three championship points to beat Italian Jannik Sinner in an epic French Open final. The 22-year-old Spaniard defeated the world number one, 4-6, 6-7, 6-4, 7-6, 7-6, in five-hours-and-29 minutes, the longest French Open final in history. Alcaraz, who is the fifth youngest player to win five Grand Slam titles, says belief in himself kept him going in the match:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-76-cents and the euro at 20-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 105-thousand-689-dollar-70-cents. Gold sells at three-thousand-308-dollars-43-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-39-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….