News 06:00

BULLETIN 11 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The government is called on to strengthen disaster management
# ActionSA says the Constitutional Court ruling on Phala Phala is a victory for accountability 
# And, the evacuation of the last passengers of the MV Hondius cruise ship will be completed today

# The National Disaster Management Centre has called on all three spheres of government to step up support for disaster management teams and strengthen contingency measures. This has classified the adverse weather conditions in some provinces as a national disaster. This follows torrential rainfall, storms, and damaging winds in the Western Cape, North West, Free State, Eastern Cape, Northern Cape, and Mpumalanga. National Disaster Management’s Thabo Khupari says this classification now places the primary responsibility on the government:

Meanwhile, the Western Cape Department of Education says schools in certain areas of the Cape Winelands Education District will be closed today. MEC David Maynier says all public ordinary and special needs schools in Circuits 3, 4, 5, and 6 will be closed, including Worcester, Ceres, Rawsonville, Tulbagh, and Hex River Valley. He says the closure is in the interests of learner and teacher safety:

# ActionSA has welcomed the ruling of the Constitutional Court on the Phala Phala matter. The party’s chairperson, Michael Beaumont, says this ruling has determined that the rule used by the National Assembly to deny the investigation report into Phala Phala being referred to the Impeachment Committee was invalid, and thus the vote must be deemed invalid. He says the fact that this report must now return to a Parliament where the ANC no longer enjoys a majority that can protect the President over the Constitution is a victory for accountability.

# Home Affairs minister, Leon Schreiber, is inviting members of the public to submit their written comments on the digital identity draft regulations by 6 June, before the regulations are finalised for promulgation. He says the draft regulations are designed to create the required regulatory framework for the introduction of a cutting-edge Digital Identity system in South Africa. Schreiber says this system can greatly enhance South Africa’s ability to combat identity theft, financial crimes, corruption, and illegal immigration.

# The MV Hondius cruise ship, which is at the centre of the hantavirus outbreak, docked in Tenerife, Spain, on Sunday. The ship arrived in the Canary Islands carrying 146 people, after three people died of the virus and eight more became ill. So far, passengers from Spain, France, the UK, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands were transported onto evacuation flights, while all remaining passengers are expected to disembark today. The World Health Organisation has recommended a 42-day quarantine period for cruise passengers from the time of their last exposure.

# Golf: South Africa’s Yurav Premlall secured his first DP World Tour title by winning the Catalunya Championship in Barcelona by 14 shots. Ranked 598th in the world, he finished at 28 under to claim the largest winning margin for a maiden DP World Tour title. His compatriot Shaun Norris finished second. Another South African, JC Ritchie, shared third spot with Spain’s Alejandro Del Rey and France’s Oihan Guillamoundeguy. Premlall says he has worked so hard to get into this position:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-44-cents and the euro at 19-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-32-cents and Bitcoin trades at 82-thousand-307-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-692-dollars-17-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 98-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….