News 12:00

BULLETIN 19 May 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Kubayi welcomes the swift action taken against a prosecutor accused of contempt of court
# The bodies of four missing Italian divers are found in the Maldives
# And rugby: Anathi Qolo will lead the Springbok Women to the Africa Women’s Cup

# Minister of Justice and Constitutional Development, Mmamoloko Kubayi, has welcomed the suspension of Mpumalanga prosecutor Mkhuseli Ntaba pending disciplinary action. He failed to appear in the Kwaggafontein Magistrate’s Court in Mpumalanga yesterday, where the case against taxi tycoon Joe ‘Ferrari’ Sibanyoni and others was then struck off the roll. They faced charges of extortion and money laundering. Spokesperson Palesa Rammitlwa says a warrant of arrest has been issued for Ntaba:

# The South African Human Rights Commission will convene an inquiry from today until Thursday to investigate the water crisis in Gauteng. The inquiry follows numerous complaints concerning persistent and widespread water shortages, recurring service delivery disruptions, ageing infrastructure, governance failures, and the deteriorating reliability of water supply systems. The commission says the inquiry will examine, among other things, the extent and nature of water access challenges, the causes of recurring water shortages, the impact of the crisis on communities, and governance, budgeting and infrastructure management systems.

# Western Cape premier Alan Winde says the full extent of the damage from last week’s devastating storms is still being assessed, with costs expected to run into billions-of-rand. Heavy rain, flooding, and strong winds claimed the lives of eleven people in the province. The provincial government has applied for a disaster declaration to help fund relief and rebuilding efforts. Winde says the province is now entering a lengthy recovery phase:

Moving abroad:

# The bodies of four Italian divers who went missing during a scuba diving accident in the Maldives last week have been located. Officials confirmed they were found inside a 60-metre-deep cave in Vaavu Atoll by a joint team of highly trained Finnish and local divers. The body of a fifth member of the group had already been recovered shortly after Thursday’s accident. This is believed to be the worst single diving accident in the tiny Indian Ocean nation, which is a popular tourist destination.

# Rugby: Springbok Women head coach Swys de Bruin has picked a strong 28-player squad for the Rugby Africa Women’s Cup set to take place in Nairobi, Kenya, from Saturday. Anathi Qolo will captain the side, which includes nine uncapped players and eight capped players who are returning to international action. South Africa, who are the defending champions, will face Uganda, Madagascar and hosts Kenya. De Bruin says this tournament is a perfect opportunity to blood new players and give some capped players proper game time.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-60-cents and the euro at 19-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-24-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-93-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-543-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 106-dollars-94-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….