News 06:00

BULLETIN 8 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# South Africa says it will present a report to the African Union over anti-migrant protests
# The World Health Organisation warns there are more hantavirus cases possible
# And rugby: The Stormers, Bulls, and Lions are gearing up for the penultimate round of the URC

# South Africa is set to submit a report to the African Union after Ghana asked for anti-migrant protests to be discussed at an upcoming meeting. Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni says the government supports the first country-of-safety principle in migration matters. Ntshavheni added that there is no war in the Southern African Development Community region to justify large movements of people into South Africa:

# Business Unity South Africa says if high fuel costs become a sustained feature of the operating environment, the consequences will be lower investment, fewer jobs and slower growth. Global oil market volatility has resulted in significant increases in fuel prices in April and May. BUSA says that with about 80-percent of goods in the country transported by road, elevated fuel costs raise distribution and logistics expenses across the economy. It warns that companies are forced into impossible trade-offs between covering rising fuel costs and meeting payroll or supplier obligations.

# The Garden Route District Municipality says the focus is on locating trapped or displaced people, as weather warnings for the region have been downgraded from level eight to level six. Areas of particular concern remain the Knysna, Bitou, George, and Oudtshoorn areas. According to the municipality’s Fire Chief, Deon Stoffels, approximately 76 people are stranded in De Vlugt in the George municipal area:

# The Freedom Front Plus has expressed concerns about the City of Tshwane’s request to write off a further 1.5-billion-rand in debtors as unauthorised expenditure. In the past 12 months, the metro has recognised nearly six-billion-rand of its debt burden as fictitious or uncollectable. The FF Plus says that if accounting tricks must be employed to remove billions from the financial statements in an effort to balance the books, it means the budget was never genuinely funded. It adds that this amounts to gross manipulation of the budgeting process.

# The World Health Organisation says more hantavirus cases linked to the Atlantic cruise ship outbreak may still emerge due to the virus’s long incubation period of up to six weeks. WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the media ongoing monitoring and contact tracing are in place across multiple countries, as passengers and close contacts continue to be followed for possible symptoms:

# Rugby: The Stormers, the Lions, and the Bulls need crucial victories in the penultimate pool round of the United Rugby Championship this weekend. All three South African teams are still in the running to host quarter-finals when the playoffs start. This evening, the Stormers, as log leaders, take on Ulster in Belfast, the seventh-placed Bulls face Zebre in Pretoria tomorrow, and the third-placed Lions are up against fourth-placed Leinster in Dublin. The Sharks, now tenth on the log, take on 13th-placed Benetton in Durban.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-45-cents and the euro at 19-rand-30-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-30-cents and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-854-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-687-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 101-dollars-11-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….