News 09:00

BULLETIN 9 May 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# There are more workers missing in the George building collapse than initially presumed
# The Election Commission says a timely judgment on Zuma’s eligibility is important
# And André de Ruyter says more money is spent on diesel to bring relief from load-shedding

# The George Municipality says following intensive scrutiny of the safety records, it was discovered that the number of workers on-site at the time of the George building collapse was 81 and not 75 as initially reported. Thirty-seven people have been extracted from the collapsed construction site, eight of those have died, while 44 are unaccounted for. The municipality’s spokesperson, Chantel Edwards-Klose says the rescue operation is continuing:

# The Electoral Commission says a speedy judgment by the Constitutional Court on Jacob Zuma’s eligibility to contest for Parliament, will be important for a free and fair election outcome. The apex court is set to hear tomorrow the IEC’s appeal on last month’s Electoral Court’s ruling that the former president could stand for Parliament despite his criminal record. IEC chairperson Mosotho Moepya says the ConCourt wants clarity on how and when they can apply section 47 of the Constitution.

# Former Eskom CEO, André de Ruyter, believes the government is pouring more money into diesel which has resulted in temporary relief from load-shedding. He was a guest speaker at PSG Financial Services’ annual conference yesterday. De Ruyter says during his tenure at the power utility, they spent only about six-billion-rand a year on diesel to run the utility’s open-cycle gas turbines to generate power. He says the budget for this year for diesel is now 24-billion-rand, four times what they had at their disposal.

# TikTok has initiated legal action to halt a US law that would prohibit the app unless its Chinese parent company sells it. The social media giant argues the law infringes on its 170-million American users’ free speech rights. President Joe Biden signed the bill last month, citing national security concerns about Chinese ownership. However, TikTok asserts its independence from the government, while ByteDance, its parent company, denies plans for a sale.

# Golf: Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy says he will not be making an imminent return to the PGA Tour’s policy board. Last month, Webb Simpson reportedly offered his resignation from the board and requested McIlroy take his place. The 35-year-old’s reappointment was subject to a vote from board members. McIlroy says some board members were uncomfortable by the prospect of his potential return:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-56-cents and the euro at 19-rand-95-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-20-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-549-dollars-42-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-313-dollars-77-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-89-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….