News 11:00

BULLETIN 10 May 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Activists and Citizens Forum reiterates its call on Cyril Ramaphosa to resign following the Phala Phala matter
# The Cape of Good Hope SPCA is to coordinate and prioritise its response to animals in distress amidst the bad weather
# And tennis: Sinner opens his Italian Open account and Sabalenka suffers an early exit shock

# The Activists and Citizens Forum has reiterated its call on president Cyril Ramaphosa to resign following the Constitutional Court’s judgement on the Phala Phala matter. The ConCourt on Friday ruled that the National Assembly’s vote on Phala Phala in Parliament was invalid and unconstitutional. Forum spokesperson, Dennis Bloem says Ramaphosa is just an embarrassment and he must put the interest of the country above his own interests:

# The Cape of Good Hope SPCA and the City of Cape Town’s Disaster Risk Management Centre  will coordinate and prioritise response to animals in distress as inclement weather conditions continue until Tuesday. Cape of Good Hope SPCA spokesperson, Belinda Abraham, says pets should be brought indoors wherever possible. She says where indoor shelter is not feasible, owners are urged to provide a waterproof kennel that is raised off the ground and turned away from the wind:

# Police with support from its crime-fighting partners, seized counterfeit goods worth more than 17-million-rand and arrested 16 suspects during last month nationwide operations. Police spokesperson Amanda van Wyk says these operations resulted in the seizure of large quantities of counterfeit and illicit goods, including branded clothing, sports apparel, cellphone accessories, toys, pharmaceuticals, consumables, as well as counterfeit liquor and cigarettes:

# ActionSA has announced Nasiphi Moya as the party mayoral candidate for the City of Tshwane ahead of the upcoming local government elections in November. ActionSA chairperson, Michael Beaumont says when Moya took the helm in Tshwane, she inherited an absolute disaster. He says decades of financial ruin, decaying infrastructure, and the arrogance of career politicians had brought the capital city to its knees. He adds that they broke Tshwane, but Moya stepped in with an unapologetic commitment to action:

# Tennis: Jannik Sinner got his Italian Open campaign underway on Saturday by swatting aside Sebastian Ofner 6-3, 6-4,  to start his bid to extend a record-breaking run of five straight Masters 1000 tournament victories. Sinner won his 24th consecutive match in one hour and 40 minutes to set up a clash with Alexei Popyrin or Jakub Mensik in the third round. No Italian man has won at the Foro Italico since Adriano Panatta 50 years ago, and with Carlos Alcaraz out of action, Sinner is expected to go one better than last year when he lost the final to his great rival.

And in the women’s draw world number one and favourite for overall victory, Aryna Sabalenka, followed men’s tennis icon Novak Djokovic in going out early following a 2-6, 6-3, 7-5 loss to Sorana Cirstea. Sabalenka was visibly frustrated with her performance on centre court, muttering to herself with her shoulders slumped during an uncharacteristically sloppy display. Meanwhile Jasmine Paolini’s defence of her Italian Open title came to an early end after the home favourite was knocked out by Elise Mertens, 4-6, 7-6, 6-3. French Open champion Coco Gauff is still in the hunt after taking over two hours to beat Argentina’s Solana Sierra 5-7, 6-0, 6-4.

Stay tuned for more news………….