News 09:00

BULLETIN 29 October 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The FF Plus says the new tobacco law cannot continue without proper consultation
# COSATU supports NEHAWU’s court battle for the permanent employment of healthcare workers
# And the Life Esidimeni families stage a picket urging criminal charges

# The Freedom Front Plus says it firmly maintains its stance that the consultation processes followed with the Tobacco Products and Electronic Delivery Systems Control Bill of 2022 were inadequate, and that the law’s processing should not continue. The party’s Philip van Staden says the Department of Health was dishonest about the prescribed processes:

#  Cosatu says it is fully behind its affiliate NEHAWU, as it heads to the Labour Court today in defence of Community Healthcare Workers. Cosatu’s spokesperson, Zanele Sabela says the union seeks to review the arbitration award that ruled against its application to compel the Department of Health to appoint Community Healthcare Workers permanently. She says NEHAWU’s case is justified:

#  The Life Esidimeni families, the disability sector, the South African Depression and Anxiety Group, SECTION27 and other interested parties will picket and hand over a memorandum of demand to the National Prosecuting Authority in Pretoria today. SECTION27’s Pearl Nicodemus says the interest groups demand that the NPA prioritise the prosecution of  former Gauteng Health MEC Qedani Mahlangu and the former Director of Mental Health Makgabo Manamela for their roles in the Life Esidimeni tragedy. She says they are calling on the NPA to pursue criminal charges against Mahlangu and Manamela without delay.

# The Archbishop of Puerto Rico has called on Donald Trump to personally apologise for the inflammatory remarks a comedian made at his rally in Madison Square Garden on Sunday, in which he referred to the US island territory as a floating island of garbage. Trump’s campaign sought to distance itself from Tony Hinchcliffe’s comment, saying it did not reflect the views of the former president. However, Trump himself remained silent about the row amid a flurry of cross-party criticism. The Archbishop in his social media post said it’s important that Trump personally apologise.

# Soccer:  Manchester City and Spain midfielder Rodri was awarded the men’s Ballon d’Or on Monday after winning a fourth consecutive Premier League title and Euro 2024. The decision came as a surprise, with Real Madrid’s Vinicius Junior widely seen as the favourite. Hours before the ceremony in Paris, the Spanish club announced its delegation would not attend the ceremony. Barcelona and Spain star Aitana Bonmati won her second successive women’s Ballon d’Or. Real Madrid was awarded best men’s team, with the best women’s team going to Barcelona.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-71-cents and the euro at 19-rand-15-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-97-cents and Bitcoin trades at 71-thousand-4-dollars-2-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-753-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-91-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….