News 11:00

BULLETIN 13 May 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The death toll in George rises to 24
# Ramaphosa says there is hope that the end of load-shedding is in sight
# And rugby: The Bok Women’s coach is proud of their World Cup qualification

# The George Municipality has confirmed that three more bodies have been retrieved from the rubble of last Monday’s building collapse, raising the death toll to 24. At least 81 people were on the site at the time of the incident. Twenty-eight remain trapped under the rubble. International Relations deputy minister Alvin Botes and representatives of the Mozambican, Malawian, and Zimbabwean embassies will meet with families today.

The South African Human Rights Commission announced it will visit the site today. Spokesperson Wisani Baloyi says the purpose of the visit is to determine the cause of the disaster, the impact, and the steps that will be taken to mitigate future human rights violations:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says it is too early to say that load-shedding has been brought to an end, but it’s clear that the Energy Action Plan is working. Today marks 47 days without load-shedding. In his weekly newsletter, the president says load-shedding has not been reduced as a political ploy ahead of the elections, or due to Eskom using more diesel. Ramaphosa says the reduction in load-shedding is due to a combination of measures including fixing the power utility, unlocking private investment in energy generation, and supporting rooftop solar.

# The United Nations Human Rights is warning that a full-scale offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah would be catastrophic. More than 80-thousand people have fled the city since last week Monday. UN Human Rights chief Volker Türk says there is no way that a full assault in an area with an extremely dense presence of civilians, can be reconciled with the binding requirements of international humanitarian law. He says all states with influence must do everything in their power to prevent a Rafah offensive.

# Rugby: Springbok Women’s coach Louis Koen says qualifying for next year’s World Cup in England is a proud moment and very special. South Africa beat Madagascar 46-17 to defend their title as African champions and seal their spot in the World Cup. Koen says qualifying is a massive boost to all involved players, management, and stakeholders, who walked this journey together:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-38-cents and the euro at 19-rand-80-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-2-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-610-dollars-12-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-348-dollars-22-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….