World Cup games: New Zealand vs Slovakia in Rustenburg (13:30); Ivory Coast vs Portugal in Port Elizabeth (16:00) and Brazil vs North Korea at Ellis Park (20:30).
Although it comes 38 years after the fact, a report on the Bloody Sunday massacre in Northern Ireland due for release today is expected to lay to rest some issues while raising others. The inquiry into the deaths of 14 marchers is the longest and most expensive ever undertaken in the United Kingdom, and perhaps the world, and will reportedly exonerate the dead of any violence. The big question is whether those who shot them – and those who were giving the orders – will now be prosecuted.
Wilmot James, the DA’s higher eduction minister, is going to have to work hard to keep the grin off his face this afternoon. He’s due to have University of the Free State educator Jonathan Jansen on his one side, and Free State ANC Youth League leader Thabo Meeko on the other. And then Meeko will meekly admit that he engaged in hat speech against Jansen, was shown the error of his ways through a complaint by the DA, and he’ll humbly apologise. Although it is not officially listed as such in any book of faith, we think that may very well be a sign to herald the end times.
The National Union of Mineworkers will try to secure a certificate of non-resolution, which will put it well on its way to declaring a legal strike against Eskom. There seems little room for that certification to be denied, and once it is issued there will be very few arguments Eskom could make to have the courts block a strike. In other words, start hoping that Eskom either has some really excellent lawyers on call, or that it is just playing at brinkmanship and will come up with an offer the union can’t refuse.
Several big unions have promised to unveil their plans for a national day of protest against “the fascist Mexican government“. And no, they don’t plan to wait until the end of the World Cup, although you can expect them to deny that they are using the whole eyes-of-the-world-upon-us thing to gain extra publicity from their efforts.
The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation will this morning release its annual agricultural outlook, the most comprehensive look at production and prices over the next decade. They’ll spend a bit of time looking at the causes of food price volatility and the chances of the same going forward, but the traders and bio-fuel investors and governments will have eyes only for the staple projections.
Economic data: April building numbers from Statistics SA.
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