News 06:00

BULLETIN 14 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The ANC slams the US decision to grant refugee status to Afrikaners
# Minister Ramokgopa will today address the public on the power situation
# And Zelensky is prepared to meet Putin for peace talks on Thursday

# The ANC says the US’s decision to grant refugee status to 49 Afrikaners is based on false claims of persecution. It rejects the notion that any group in South Africa is being ethnically targeted, calling the move a political ploy to undermine democracy. The party says these individuals are not fleeing danger but avoiding justice and equality. ANC spokesperson Mahlengi Bhengu-Motsiri urges citizens to stand united in defence of truth, constitutional values, and national sovereignty:

# ActionSA calls for urgent policy reforms to address the worsening unemployment crisis, which has left over 8.2-million people without jobs. The party says the government of national unity has failed to act decisively, despite promises to turn the economy around. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley says the latest Statistics South Africa’s figures, showing 43.1-percent expanded unemployment, reflect poor leadership. Beesley warns that unless real reforms are introduced in the next budget, the crisis will only deepen:

# Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, will today provide a comprehensive update on the electricity generation performance. This comes as Eskom has implemented stage two load-shedding during evening peak hours, from yesterday until tomorrow. The power utility says the move is due to a delayed return of generation units and unplanned breakdowns, resulting in the loss of over 13-thousand megawatts. Ramokgopa is expected to address these setbacks and outline plans to stabilise the grid.

# The DA says Gauteng premier Panyaza Lesufi’s government continues to fail residents as the province’s unemployment rate rises to 34.7-percent, up from 34.4-percent. The latest quarterly labour force survey shows there are 2.7-million unemployed residents in the province, with an additional 579-thousand discouraged job seekers. The DA’s Mike Moriarty criticised Lesufi’s economic strategies, including the Nasi Ispani programme, for failing to attract investors or address infrastructure issues:

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says he will be available for direct peace talks with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, during his visit to Turkey on Thursday, where he is set to meet president Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Zelensky says the only way to secure a ceasefire and an end to the war is through direct talks with Putin. He adds that if the talks failed, he would expect strong sanctions from the US and European Union, as it would show that Russia was not ready for diplomacy.

# Cricket: Kagiso Rabada spearheads the Proteas’ pace attack of six bowlers for the final of the World Test Championship against Australia, starting at Lord’s in London on the 11th of next month. The other quicks are Lungi Ngidi, Dane Paterson, Marco Jansen, Wiaan Mulder and Corbin Bosch, who are joined by spinners Keshav Maharaj and Senuran Muthusamy. Coach Shukri Conrad says they’ve worked hard over the past 18 months to build a competitive red-ball unit, and reaching the final reflects that progress.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-30-cents and the euro at 20-rand-48-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-36-cents and Bitcoin trades at 104-thousand-126-dollar-40-cents. Gold sells at three-thousand-254-dollars-64-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 66-dollars-51-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….