News 06:00

BULLETIN 15 November 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The minister of Public Works announces measures to tackle project delays and corruption
# A renowned headache doctor is charged with the murder of a patient
# And soccer: Bafana Bafana qualifies for the 2025 Afcon finals

# Public Works and Infrastructure minister Dean Macpherson has announced strict new measures to address widespread delays and corruption in public infrastructure projects. Speaking in Parliament, Macpherson revealed that 79-percent of the department’s 206 projects are delayed, costing three-billion-rand. To combat this, the minister outlined steps including a contractor blacklisting policy, strict performance oversight, and the creation of a contract management unit:

Meanwhile, the National Construction Summit will convene in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal on Tuesday to tackle crime syndicates disrupting infrastructure projects. Macpherson will lead the summit, joined by Police minister Senzo Mchunu and Finance minister Enoch Godongwana. In his Parliamentary address, Macpherson said the goal is to stop site disruptions and violence, ensuring safer construction sites and reducing delays and costs from criminal activity:

# Renowned headache specialist Elliot Shevel, appeared in the Randburg Magistrate’s Court yesterday, facing charges of murdering a patient, Marinella Avvakoumides, who died after receiving treatment at his clinic. The 81-year-old is accused of performing a risky desensitisation procedure on Avvakoumides in July 2021. She was later declared unresponsive and removed from life support eight days after the treatment. Prosecutor Yusuf Baba told the court that more cases are being investigated. Shevel was released on five-thousand-rand bail. His next court appearance is on 5 December.

# The Police ministry led by minister Senzo Mchunu will today visit the Stilfontein mine in North West to assess the ongoing rescue operation for over four-thousand illegal miners refusing to resurface. The visit aims to evaluate immediate rescue efforts and strategies to address the safety risks of illegal mining to local communities. Police spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says since the launch of Operation Vala Umngodi over 13-thousand illegal miners have been arrested and millions in assets seized:

# Top US Senate Democrats on the bipartisan Judiciary committee are calling on the House Ethics committee to release their findings on Matt Gaetz. This follows president-elect Donald Trump’s decision to select the former Republican lawmaker to be the attorney general. The committee had been investigating allegations that Gaetz may have engaged in sexual misconduct, bribery, and illicit drug use. He denies all the allegations. Senate Judiciary chairperson Dick Durbin says they cannot allow this valuable information from a bipartisan investigation to be hidden from the American people.

# Soccer: Bafana Bafana have qualified for the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations finals without kicking a ball. This follows South Sudan’s three-two win over the Republic of the Congo in Juba on Thursday. South Africa currently has eight points and two matches left to play in Group K, while Congo, with only four points, cannot surpass the 1996 Afcon champions even if they win their final game. Bafana Bafana and Uganda, who meet in their penultimate group clash in Kampala today, are guaranteed top-two finishes.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-25-cents and the euro at 19-rand-23-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 86-thousand-988-dollar-10-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-566-dollars-37-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 72-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….