News 16:00

BULLETIN 8 May 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Ramaphosa respects the Constitutional Court’s Phala Phala ruling
# The GOOD Party says the Phala Phala mystery must finally be cleared up
# And the former Botswanan president Festus Mogae dies at the age of 86

# The Presidency says it has noted the Constitutional Court judgment in the case brought by the EFF regarding Section 89 proceedings against president Cyril Ramaphosa over the Phala Phala farm theft matter. The court ordered Parliament to correct its rules, and the Section 89 report on the case must proceed to an impeachment committee. Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says Ramaphosa has cooperated fully with investigations:

The GOOD Party says the ruling gives Ramaphosa a chance to fully explain what happened at his farm in Limpopo. Secretary-general Brett Herron says although several institutions, including the Public Protector, the Reserve Bank and the National Prosecuting Authority, cleared Ramaphosa of wrongdoing, many South Africans still do not fully understand what happened:

# The National Health Laboratory Service says eliminating the cancer biopsy backlog at the Histology Laboratory at Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital marks a bold step forward in restoring and strengthening this critical pathology service. The backlog was one-thousand-540 specimens awaiting processing, and 12-thousand-756 processed cases awaiting reporting. NHLS spokesperson, Mzi Gcukumana, says the laboratory, which serves a network of 15 hospitals across Johannesburg, has returned to normal operations.

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner says players are not getting the respect they deserve from the organisers of the four Grand Slam events. The women’s world number one, Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, recently stated players will at some point boycott one of the majors if they aren’t given a higher percentage of the revenue generated by the slams. The Italian says players give much more than what they get back:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-41-cents and the euro at 19-rand-30-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-33-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-268-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-708-dollars-65-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 98-dollars-42-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The former third president of Botswana, Festus Mogae has died at the age of 86. Mogae had been hospitalised in Gaborone last month for an undisclosed ailment. He served as Botswana’s president from 1998 to 2008 and was widely respected for promoting economic stability, democratic governance, and tackling the HIV/AIDS crisis. Mogae pioneered Botswana’s anti-retroviral treatment programme and campaigned against stigma surrounding the disease. Mogae also received the 2008 Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership. His leadership is credited with strengthening democracy.

Stay tuned for more news………….