News 12:00

BULLETIN 8 May 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Constitutional Court decides against Parliament in the Phala Phala matter
# Minister Creecy says her department is working with health officials to monitor hantavirus cases
# And rugby: The Junior Bok team is largely unchanged for the final Under-20 Championships match against New Zealand

# The Constitutional Court found Parliament blocking the impeachment process against president Cyril Ramaphosa in the Phala Phala matter was unconstitutional. The matter must now proceed through the proper parliamentary impeachment process. More in our next bulletin.

# Minister of Transport Barbara Creecy says they are working with the Health Department to track and monitor possible hantavirus cases in South Africa. This follows the death of three people linked to an outbreak on Dutch cruise ship MV Hondius, including a passenger who collapsed at OR Tambo International in Gauteng. The Health Department is monitoring four possible contact cases in the Western Cape. Creecy says the country is prepared to deal with cases:

# The Garden Route District Municipality and Agri Western Cape have confirmed a new case of foot-and-mouth disease in the Mossel Bay area. It was identified on a small beef farm on the edge of the existing ten-kilometre quarantine zone in Groot Brak River. Spokesperson Herman Pieters says officials noticed suspicious lesions during inspection and vaccination activities, after which samples were collected. He says test results confirmed a positive case:

Staying in the province:

# The South African Weather Service has issued an advisory of expected inclement weather for the Western Cape from Sunday until Tuesday. Parts of the province experienced heavy rains this week which led to flooding, the death of one person in Knysna, and evacuations. Disaster risk management’s Charlotte Powell says the frontal system will result in disruptive rainfall, leading to potential localised flooding, strong to gale force winds and damaging waves:

Moving abroad:

# Indonesian authorities are working to rescue 20 hikers after a volcanic eruption of Mount Dukono on Halmahera Island. Nine of the hikers are Singaporean, and the rest are Indonesians. Three people, two foreign nationals and a resident from Ternate, have died. The country’s volcanology agency says the hikers are in an area that had been closed to visitors since April 17, after scientists observed an increase in volcanic activity. It maintains the alert status at the mountain at its third-highest level.

# Rugby: Junior Springbok head coach Kevin Foote chose continuity for tomorrow’s Under-20 Rugby Championship decider against two-time champion New Zealand at the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Gqeberha. The only adjustment to the team that defeated Australia last weekend is on the bench, where loose forward Risima Khosa returns in place of Gert Kemp. South Africa, currently on top of the standings on 10 points, requires just a single log point to clinch the title for the first time. Kick-off is at 2pm.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-45-cents and the euro at 19-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-35-cents and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-740-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-713-dollars-24-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 99-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….