News 12:00

BULLETIN 14 May 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A construction council calls for equal construction laws across the private and public sector 
# Saftu is concerned by the unfilled posts at SAPS 10111 call centres
# And cricket: Stuart Broad says James Anderson’s absence will expose England’s bowling attack 

# The South African Council for the Project and Construction Management Professions calls for equal construction laws across the sector. This comes after a building under construction collapsed in George, leaving 32 people dead and more than 20 unaccounted for. The council’s president, Lufuno Ratsiku, highlights a gap in construction laws between public and private sectors. He advocates for uniform laws applicable to both private and public sectors, emphasising the need for legislative change to ensure regulatory parity.

Meanwhile, the George Municipality says it has implemented strict verification processes for the family members of the victims and missing workers. The municipality’s spokesperson, Chantel Edwards-Klose, says they now have adequate numbers of fluent practitioners in Chewa, Portuguese, and Shona languages on-site to assist survivors and their families:

# Union federation Saftu has expressed concern at the alarmingly high number of unfilled vacancies in the South African Police Services’ emergency 10111 call centres. Police minister Bheki Cele revealed in a parliamentary answer that only 41.31-percent of call centre positions are filled. Saftu’s spokesperson, Trevor Shaku, says the understaffing of the call centres and multiple system failures have led to 26.2-percent of calls to eleven centres being abandoned since 2018:

# Cricket: Retired England bowler Stuart Broad says there is a pressing need for a new generation of bowlers to bed into their roles in good time for the next Ashes tour in 2025 and ’26. This comes as England’s all-time leading wicket-taker, James Anderson, will call time on his career after the first Test against the West Indies at Lord’s in July. Broad says with Anderson departing, the team’s bowling attack risks being exposed in the short term, not least by a West Indies team that recently beat Australia.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-46-cents and the euro at 19-rand-90-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-12-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-850-dollars-33-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-338-dollars-29-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-14-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Six years after her last comedy special, Relatable, comedian and former talk-show host, Ellen DeGeneres, is returning to Netflix for her final stand-up special later this year. The special will be her first since the end of her popular daytime talk show, after 19 seasons. Netflix’s vice president of Stand-up and Comedy Formats, Robbie Praw, says there is nobody quite like DeGeneres, she is a true legend and pioneer in so many ways. DeGeneres will also kick off a multi-city stand-up tour in San Diego on the 19th of June.

Stay tuned for more news………….