June 2 major South African media outlets

— It is D-day for political parties to submit candidate lists for this year’s local government elections.

Parties have until 5 p.m. local time on Thursday to submit their lists of those contesting the elections to the Electoral Commission of SA (IEC). (Business Day)

— South Africa’s plans to tighten the anti-smoking laws will ignite the illicit trade in cigarettes, thereby removing billions of rands of tax revenue and threatening jobs, British American Tobacco (BAT) warned on Wednesday.

This follows the pledge by Health Minister Aaron Motsoaledi on Tuesday to strengthen the Tobacco Products Control Act to fall in line with World Health Organisation (WHO) Framework Convention on Tobacco Control.(Fin24)

— Democratic Alliance leader Mmusi Maimane has rejected media reports that suggested that his predecessor Helen Zille was still in charge of the party based on an alleged intervention when a senior party leader from the Eastern Cape wanted to quit.

Maimane told Parliament journalists that there had been “a lot of misreporting on the issue”. (City Press) Enditem

Source: Xinhua/NewsGhana.com.gh