News 12:00

BULLETIN 2 April 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The speaker loses her court bid against her arrest 
# The DA in Gauteng says infrastructure failures must be addressed to deal with the water crisis
# And swimming: Singapore’s Olympic golden boy Joseph Schooling retires

# National Assembly Speaker Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula’s attempt to halt her imminent arrest amidst corruption allegations was dismissed by the Gauteng High Court in Pretoria. The court struck the urgent application off the roll with costs against the speaker, noting that granting such an order could open the floodgates. Mapisa-Nqakula is under investigation for alleged corruption and money laundering during her time as minister of Defence and Military Veterans. Judge Sulet Potterill ruled that the court cannot declare an arrest unlawful before it happened:

# The Activists and Citizens Forum says the electricity increase of 12.74-percent, in combination with the increase in fuel prices, will have devastating effects on the already crippled economy. The forum predicts more businesses are going to close their doors, with the cost of living and unaffordable food affecting the poor the hardest. Spokesperson Dennis Bloem says the ANC government has totally failed to fulfil the promise of 1994 for a better life for all. He says in reality life is getting worse under the current government.

# The DA in Gauteng says the only sustainable solution to the current water crisis is to address the infrastructure failures that have contributed to the current water outages. The city loses 46.1-percent of the water it receives from Rand Water due to leaks, and incurs 1.7-billion-rand in lost revenue as a result. The DA’s Solly Malatsi says the budget for infrastructure maintenance is woefully inadequate, and Johannesburg is currently saddled with an 80-billion-rand water infrastructure backlog:

# Three people have been killed and another person injured in an avalanche at Riffelberg near the Swiss Alpine ski resort of Zermatt. Intense snowfall coupled with powerful winds prompted authorities to caution over a significant avalanche hazard in the southern Swiss Alps over the past weekend. It remains unclear how many people are still missing. According to the Swiss Institute for Snow and Avalanche Research, the country has already witnessed 14 fatalities in 12 avalanches and accidents this season, with the majority of victims being cross-country skiers.

# Swimming: Singapore’s only Olympic gold medallist, Joseph Schooling, has announced his retirement, eight years after his success at the Rio Olympics. The 28-year-old won gold in the 100-meter butterfly in 2016 against a field studded with talent including American legend Michael Phelps. Schooling says he is filled with gratitude for every experience that swimming has brought into his life. He says the victories were exhilarating, the defeats humbling, and together, they have forged a resilience in him that he will carry forward into his next chapter.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-84-cents and the euro at 20-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-66-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-645-dollars-45-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-261-dollars-94-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 88-dollars-53-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….