News 11:00

BULLETIN 22 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Nxesi urges Amplats to find an amicable way to avoid or limit job losses
# Freedom Under Law says the pending removal of Hlophe and Motata is a sad moment for the judiciary
# And tennis, Carlos Alcaraz is confident of playing in Indian Wells despite ankle injury

# Employment and Labour minister, Thulas Nxesi, is appealing to both labour and Anglo American Platinum management to work together to find an amicable way to avoid or limit job losses. Amplats has initiated a retrenchment consulting process that may result in more than four-thousand jobs being lost. This is as it seeks to reduce five-billion-rand in costs. The department’s spokesperson, Sabelo Mali, says the minister acknowledges the difficulties that Amplats Mine operates under due to internal and external factors:

# Freedom Under Law has welcomed the pending removal of Western Cape Judge President John Hlophe and retired judge Nkola Motata from office. An overwhelming majority of parliamentarians voted to impeach both judges after they were found guilty of gross misconduct by the Judicial Conduct Tribunal. Freedom Under Law says this is a sad moment for the judiciary because it marks the first time in South Africa’s history that judges are removed from office for misconduct. It adds that it is vital for the integrity of the judiciary to be protected.

# The City of Tshwane says it is unable to grant exemptions from load-shedding to areas lacking dedicated networks for load-shedding mitigation. The metro is currently working to reduce the impact of load-shedding by looking to revive the operations of the Rooiwal and Pretoria West power stations. The city’s Themba Fosi says an entity seeking exemption from load-shedding must demonstrate preparedness to withstand power outages through the provision of standby generators or alternative backup systems:

# Israel’s Association of Rape Crisis Centers says it has gathered evidence showing that Hamas systematically and intentionally committed sexual crimes during the deadly October seventh attacks. The association has released a report based on testimonies, interviews and other sources, demonstrating the militant group’s sexual violence. The report revealed that Hamas threatened victims, often injured women, with weapons to rape, often collectively with collaboration between multiple terrorists. The United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict is currently investigating this.

# Tennis: World number two, Carlos Alcaraz, says he is confident that he will be able to play Indian Wells next month. The Spaniard sprained his right ankle during his opening match of the Rio Open in Brazil against local player Thiago Monteiro and was forced to retire after two games. Alcaraz has one-thousand points to defend as the reigning champion in Indian Wells. The tournament, which is one of the biggest tournaments outside of the four Grand Slams, starts on the sixth of next month.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-88-cents and the euro at 20-rand-48-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-90-cents and Bitcoin trades at 51-thousand-690-dollars-2-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-30-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-23-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….