News 18:00

BULLETIN 12 May 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Government affirms Afrikaners will retain their citizenship amid the US resettlement
# Sun City is to host the key G20 Sherpa meeting next month
# And rugby: A former England and Lions lock will succeed Michael Cheika as Leicester Tigers’ coach

# The Department of International Relations and Cooperation says 49 Afrikaners relocating to the US under refugee status will not lose their South African citizenship. Dirco spokesperson Chrispin Phiri told Newzroom Afrika that Section 20 of the Constitution protects citizenship, however, using South African diplomatic services abroad may affect their refugee status. He emphasised that government rejects claims of Afrikaner persecution, terming it as politically motivated:

Meanwhile, minister Ronald Lamola says the Sun City resort in North West will host a key G20 Sherpa meeting next month, where global representatives will refine priorities ahead of the leaders’ summit in November. Other important G20 meetings will also take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia and New York in the US. According to Lamola, these meetings reinforce South Africa’s leadership in shaping global governance and sustainable growth:

# Police arrested approximately 17-thousand suspects in the past week during Shanela operations. Spokesperson Athlenda Mathe says among them were 224 rape suspects, including a police trainer and a KwaZulu-Natal chief. Police seized 152 illegal firearms and nine-thousand-492 mandrax tablets, and arrested 148 murder suspects. Mathe says the police will continue to crack down on violent crime, illegal firearms, and drug trafficking.

# Union Nehawu is calling on government, especially National Treasury, to uplift austerity measures to free nurses from the bondage of staff shortages. Spokesperson Lwazi Nkolonzi says government’s programme of austerity measures has had a particular impact on the capacity of the state to deliver service in health. He says South Africa has around 15-thousand-625 vacant nursing positions across all categories:

# Rugby: Former England and British and Irish Lions lock Geoff Parling has been appointed as new coach of English club, Leicester Tigers. He played 93 matches for the club between 2009 and 2015. He will succeed former Wallabies and Pumas head coach Michael Cheika at the end of the season. Forty-one-year-old Parling played 29 Tests for England between 2012 and 2015, and represented the Lions’ in Australia in 2013. He is currently the Wallabies’ assistant coach and is also the Lions’ lineout coach in this year’s series in Australia.  

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-31-cents and the euro at 20-rand-36-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-17-cents and Bitcoin trades at 103-thousand-907-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-237-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-56-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….