News 08:00

BULLETIN 7 May 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The death toll from the George building collapse rises to four
# The DA says the ANC has created an inhospitable investment environment
# And minister Pandor concludes her working visit to Equatorial Guinea

# The death toll following the collapse of a five-storey building under construction in George in the Western Cape has risen to four. Seventy-five construction workers were present on the site at the time of the collapse yesterday afternoon. Western Cape premier, Alan Winde, says 24 patients have been removed from the rubble at 75 Victoria Street, leaving 51 persons unaccounted for:

# The DA says the ANC government is to blame for the local and international sentiment being at an all-time low in the country. This comes as oil giant Shell plans to divest from South Africa, which will entail the sale of its downstream assets. The DA’s, Dion George, says investors, already disillusioned by the ANC’s unviable approach to running an economy, are fleeing the country at the prospect of an ANC/EFF coalition:

# The Pretoria High Court has granted the Special Investigating Unit and the Asset Forfeiture Unit a forfeiture order valued at 53-million-rand. This is linked to the fraudulent transfer of government land to private entities and individuals in Gauteng. The court has ordered that land in Zuurfontein, Ekurhuleni, valued at 41-million-rand must be transferred to the Gauteng Department of Infrastructure Development as the original title deed owner. The SIU says RIC Development, which bought Zuurfontein as part of a land theft syndicate, has been ordered to pay the department 12-million-rand.

# International Relations and Cooperation minister, Naledi Pandor, has concluded her two-day working visit to Equatorial Guinea. The two countries have signed a memorandum of understanding on the establishment of a joint commission for cooperation. Pandor says discussions focused on strengthening bilateral relations between South Africa and Equatorial Guinea, and regional, continental, and global issues of common interest:

# Cricket: An unbeaten century from Suryakumar Yadav guided the Mumbai Indians to a seven-wicket win over the Sunrisers Hyderabad in the Indian Premier League. Hardik Pandya and Piyush Chawla took three wickets each as the Sunrisers were restricted to 173 for eight in their 20 overs. In reply, Yadav scored an unbeaten 102 off 51 balls, his maiden IPL century, as Mumbai reached the target with 16 balls left. This win keeps Mumbai mathematically in contention for the playoffs.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-50-cents and the euro at 19-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-23-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-658-dollars-11-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-323-dollars-44-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-57-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….