News 11:00

BULLETIN 10 October 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says the reform of visas will attract investment
# Action Society condemns the police’s ineffectiveness
# And Hurricane Milton causes chaos in Florida

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the gazetting of reforms for South Africa’s visa regime is a key step towards attracting international skills and investment, growing tourism, and creating jobs. Minister of Home Affairs Leon Schreiber has gazetted the remote work visitor visa and the new points-based system for work visas. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says these reforms remove bureaucratic hurdles and are designed to make it easier for South African companies and multinationals to hire skilled workers:

# Action Society has condemned the South African Police Service’s ineffectiveness due to shortages in personnel and backlogs in forensic and DNA processing. According to the Auditor-General’s report submitted to Parliament, detectives are overstretched and cases delayed, leaving many victims without justice. The report also revealed poor response times at 10111 call centres, further eroding public trust in law enforcement. Action Society’s Juanita du Preez criticised the SAPS for failing to resolve crimes, and called for urgent reforms.

# The Limpopo Education Department is investigating the suspected food poisoning of 35 learners from Makahlule Primary School. Twenty-two learners were hospitalised after they started vomiting yesterday. Another 13 learners were also rushed to hospital complaining of headaches and stomach cramps. The department’s spokesperson, Mosebjane Kgaffe, says food samples that learners had, have been taken for testing, to ascertain if the school nutrition rations could have been the cause:

# Several deaths have been reported at a leisure resort in St Lucie County on Florida’s east coast after Hurricane Milton made landfall near Siesta Key as a dangerous category 3 storm before weakening to a category 2. Milton has knocked out power for more than two million people in the state. St Lucie County sheriff, Keith Pearson, told ABC News the exact number of fatalities is unclear at this stage:

# Soccer: Former Sheffield United defender George Baldock has died at the age of 31. The England-born Greece international was found dead in the swimming pool of his house in the Athens suburb of Glyfada. Baldock signed for Greek side Panathinaikos earlier this year after seven years at Sheffield. He had made four appearances for the club and started in their goalless draw with Olympiakos this past Sunday. Baldock has 12 international caps for Greece.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-61-cents and the euro at 19-rand-27-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-4-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-53-dollars-4-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-610-dollars-79-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-89-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….