News 07:00

BULLETIN 13 May 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Zikalala will assess the George building collapse site today
# The select committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs adopts the Water Resource Bill
# And Donald Trump’s former attorney is going to testify in his hush-money trial

# Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure Sihle Zikalala will visit the George building collapse site in the Western Cape today. Twenty construction workers have died while 32 are still trapped under rubble. The minister will lead a delegation of building environment professionals along with senior executives from the Construction Industry Development Board and the Council for the Building Environment. Zikalala says they will assess compliance with regulations and investigate professional misconduct regarding the disaster.

# Saftu says Shell’s planned departure from South Africa’s downstream market for liquid fuels is a wake-up call for the government to begin requiring the production and distribution of electric vehicles finally. However, it depends on the private sector to do so. Saftu’s spokesperson Trevor Shaku says the government’s role is currently relegated to creating an enabling environment for capitalism to incentivise multinational-corporate automotive businesses:

# Parliament’s select committee on Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs, Water and Sanitation, and Human Settlements has unanimously adopted the National Water Resource Infrastructure Agency Bill. It seeks to ensure a sustainable, equitable, and reliable supply of water from national water resources infrastructure while meeting constitutional obligations. The committee’s chairperson, China Dodovu, says their support is based on the belief the agency will make an impact on the lives of people by ensuring the provision of water through enabling infrastructure.

# The EFF is calling for accountability following the killing of a five-year-old boy in Soshanguve, north of Pretoria. Ditebogo Junior Phalane was shot and killed in a carjacking outside his home last week Friday. He died in hospital. The EFF’s Mbuyiseni Ndlozi, who visited the boy’s family and met with the police, says police need to do more in protecting communities:

# Former US president Donald Trump’s hush-money trial will take a pivotal turn today when his former attorney Michael Cohen testifies in New York. Cohen allegedly made a payment, at Trump’s request, to former adult film star Stormy Daniels in the weeks leading up to the 2016 elections. This was for her to keep quiet about her alleged sexual encounter with the former president. He will testify that Trump reimbursed him for the hush money, but falsified records to disguise the payments as legal expenses.

# Tennis: Chilean Alejandro Tabilo claimed his biggest career win by beating world number one Novak Djokovic of Serbia at the Italian Open in Rome. In the third round, the 26-year-old saw off the six-time champion, 6-2, 6-3. Tabilo will next face 16th seed Karen Khachanov of Russia, who defeated Argentina’s Francisco Cerundolo 6-2, 6-4. Bulgaria’s Grigor Dimitrov and American Taylor Fritz are also through to the fourth round. Tabilo says he did not have any expectations going into the match with Djokovic:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-43-cents and the euro at 19-rand-85-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-8-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-44-dollars-66-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-358-dollars-87-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-45-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….