News 15:00

BULLETIN 16 May 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Jacob Zuma’s long-awaited trial is scheduled for next year – two decades after the arms deal allegations
# The Bela Bill is now ready for president Cyril Ramaphosa to sign into law 
# And tennis: Stefanos Tsitsipas wants to return to the top five

# Former president Jacob Zuma is set to finally stand trial next year, 20 years after he was initially charged in connection with the controversial arms deal. The High Court in Pietermaritzburg, KwaZulu-Natal, has scheduled the trial to run between April and September next year. Zuma and French arms company Thales are charged with corruption, racketeering, fraud, and tax evasion. The trial has been repeatedly delayed, including by efforts to remove state prosecutor Billy Downer. The state hopes for no further delays after a pre-trial conference, set for 29 August.

# The controversial Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill is now ready for president Cyril Ramaphosa to sign into law. The National Assembly approved the Bill this morning with the ANC, EFF, IFP, NFP and PAC voting in favour and the DA, FF Plus, ACDP and Al Jama’ah voting against. The bill will transfer the final say on language and admission policies to the heads of Education Departments while it is now in the hands of school governing bodies. Several groups have indicated they will go to court to fight the bill.

# Trade union Solidarity says the recent wage agreement between the Steel and Engineering Industries Federation of Southern Africa and unions in the Metal and Engineering Industries Bargaining Council could trigger a mass exodus of artisans. Unions are dissatisfied with the deal running until 2027, and believe it devalues skilled workers. Solidarity’s Willie Venter says disparities in proposed wage increases, applying only to industry minimum rates, yield minimal real wage growth for skilled workers:

# Tennis: Sixth seeded Stefanos Tsitsipas of Greece will try to continue his good form on clay when he meets Nicolas Jarry of Chilli in the quarterfinals of the Italian Open today. Tsitsipas reached a career-best third on the ATP rankings in 2021, but then dropped out of the top ten. He is currently in eighth position. The 25-year-old wants to continue climbing:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-21-cents and the euro at 19-rand-81-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-8-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-125-dollars-71-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-386-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-64-cents a barrel.

# And finally: With today being International Day of the Boy Child, a non-profit organisation is mentoring fatherless boys, promoting values like kindness, honesty, and self-discipline. The Character Company says in societies striving towards improved gender equity, enhanced safety and fair opportunities for women and girls, it can be common to overlook the needs and challenges of today’s boys. Founder and CEO, Jaco van Schalkwyk, says boys cannot continue to be ignored, and people then being surprised that they become a product of the examples set in society.

Stay tuned for more news………….