News 11:00

BULLETIN 29 July 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party and UAT also join the Constitutional Court bid to revive Ramaphosa’s impeachment process
# An aviation expert warns Cape Town airport nearing capacity
# And rugby: Rassie Erasmus is delighted to have players like Kolisi and Etzebeth available for the clash with Argentina

# The MK Party and United Africans Transformation have joined the African Transformation Movement and the EFF’s direct appeal to the Constitutional Court against the Western Cape High Court granting an interdict to president Cyril Ramaphosa against the work of Parliament’s impeachment committee. The MK Party’s Andile Mngxitama told Newzroom Afrika Parliament must be allowed to determine whether grounds exist for impeachment under Section 89 of the Constitution:

# AfriForum says the newly-released National Water Action Plan confirms South Africa’s water crisis is rooted in failing municipalities, neglected infrastructure, poor finances and a lack of accountability. The plan proposes sweeping reforms to fix the crisis. Municipalities lose or fail to account for almost half of the water pumped through their systems. AfriForum’s Lambert de Klerk says the country does not have a shortage of plans to tackle the crisis, but rather a lack of accountability:

# An aviation expert says Cape Town International Airport is nearing its capacity during peak travel periods as passenger numbers continue to grow. Former air traffic controller Rob Russell says increasing pressure on runways, aircraft parking bays, and terminal facilities is causing delays and congestion. He says long-planned infrastructure upgrades need to be accelerated, warning there is no quick fix, as a new runway could take up to three years to complete. Russell adds despite the pressure, safety has not been compromised.

Moving abroad:

# Approximately three-thousand-600 military personnel have been mobilised in an effort to expedite rescue and relief efforts following a 6.8 magnitude earthquake that struck southern Japan yesterday. Thirteen people have died, while an unconfirmed number of people are trapped at the Aeon Mall in Kumamoto. Nine people remain missing at the Nippon Paper factory in Yatsushiro City. Around two-thousand police officials and about one-thousand fire service members have also been deployed to help with the rescue effort. Prime minister Sanae Takaichi says this is truly a race against time.

# Rugby: Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus says almost his entire squad is fit and available for next weekend’s one-off Test against Argentina in Buenos Aires. Ox Nché and Franco Mostert have been ruled out, but players such as captain Siya Kolisi, Eben Etzebeth, Lood de Jager, and Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu are back from injury. Twenty-six Boks will travel to Argentina this Saturday. Erasmus says the focus now is entirely on Los Pumas:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-69-cents and the euro at 19-rand-2-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-341-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-44-dollars-50-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-16-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….