For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines: DA launches urgent interdict over CoJ's R10bn wage agreement; South Africa's policy rate on hold as Iran war seen pushing up inflation; And, WTO chief calls for trade overhaul in new world order

DA launches urgent interdict over CoJ's R10bn wage agreement

The Democratic Alliance is seeking to urgently interdict the R10-billion wage agreement between the City of Johannesburg, and the South African Municipal Workers Union.

Last week, the Johannesburg City Council passed the adjustment budget, which the DA said highlighted the “catastrophic risk” to the City’s financial viability of the agreement with Samwu.

The party described the agreement as a “heist,” claiming that it bypassed proper Council processes and was made without proper authority.

DA Johannesburg mayoral candidate Helen Zille explained that the commitment by the city to paying Samwu members more than R10-billion was more than the City’s entire annual budget for building new infrastructure to improve service delivery.

She said the agreement was a “politically facilitated agreement” to benefit the African National Congress.

South Africa's policy rate on hold as Iran war seen pushing up inflation

South Africa's central bank maintained its main lending rate at 6.75% today, saying caution was needed as higher energy prices triggered by the US-Israel war against Iran would push up inflation.

Economists polled by Reuters had expected no change in the repo rate, as the Middle East conflict has forced central banks around the world to revise their forecasts and reconsider the path for interest rates.

South Africa's inflation was well-contained in the months before the conflict, slowing to the central bank's 3% target in February, but it is expected to pick up as the effects of anticipated fuel price hikes and a weaker exchange rate filter through.

The decision by the Monetary Policy Committee of the South African Reserve Bank was unanimous.

The central bank expects headline inflation to accelerate to around 4% soon, with fuel inflation of more than 18% for the second quarter.

And, WTO chief calls for trade overhaul in new world order

The World Trade Organisation chief called on countries to overhaul global trade rules, telling them the old world order had gone for good, following a year of turmoil sparked by US tariffs and wider geopolitical tensions.

Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala set out a list of problems facing the WTO - including the paralysis of its dispute-settlement mechanism - at the start of a four-day meeting of the body in Cameroon.

Ahead of the session, some diplomats and trade officials warned that without an agreement on reforms, countries could start abandoning the ideal of a rules-based global trade system, and set their own regulations.

The gathering in Yaounde comes amid soaring concerns over the impact of the US–Israeli war on Iran, and follows years of stalled multilateral trade deals.

Okonjo-Iweala said the body's problems over decision-making need to be tackled. Its current consensus-based model has been regularly stalled by objections from some countries. Some delegates are pushing for the organisation to let groups of members form agreements.

She also said there was a lack of transparency over which countries were using subsidies.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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