News 12:00

BULLETIN 17 May 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# RISE Mzansi encourages voters abroad to vote
# Cosatu has concerns about the Bela Bill
# And tennis: It’s men’s semifinal day in Rome 

# RISE Mzansi is urging South Africans abroad to vote this weekend. There are over 78-thousand citizens registered to vote at 111 South African missions around the world. RISE Mzansi’s leader, Songezo Zibi, says over the last few weeks, they have held successful online and physical meetings with South Africans in the UK, Mauritius, Tokyo, the United Arab Emirates, and other countries:

# Cosatu welcomes the passing of the Basic Education Laws Amendment Bill by Parliament, but has some concerns. The controversial bill was passed with staunch opposition from the DA, the FF Plus and the ACDP. It proposes to amend the SA Schools Act of 1996 and the Employment of Educators Act of 1998, to align them with developments in the education landscape. Cosatu’s Matthew Parks believes Parliament should rethink some of the aspects:

# Daily Maverick’s investigative unit, Scorpio, has revealed that Secretary to Parliament Xolile George’s salary package is 92-percent more than the legal parameters for the position. He was appointed on a 2.6-million-rand annual salary in 2022, in line with the job advertisement, but it was increased to 4.4-million-rand and now allegedly amounts to five-million-rand. Scorpio says evidence suggests George had a direct hand in writing his contract. National Council of Provinces chairperson, Amos Masondo, says there is nothing unethical or unlawful in what transpired.

# Tennis: It’s men’s semifinals day in the Italian Open in Rome. Third-seeded German Alexander Zverev first takes on 29th-seeded Chilean Alejandro Tabilo, who has eliminated world number one, Novak Djokovic of Serbia, and 16th-seeded Russian Karen Khachanov on his way to the penultimate round. Then another player from Chile, 21st-seeded Nicolás Jarry, plays 14th-seeded American Tommy Paul. Tomorrow, the top-two women in the world, Iga Swiatek of Poland and Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, will face off in the final.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-21-cents and the euro at 19-rand-77-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-5-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-240-dollars-28-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-382-dollars-91-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-52-cents a barrel.

# And finally: A memorial service for the late retired Constitutional Court Justice, Yvonne Mokgoro, will be held at the Nelson Mandela’s Children Fund in Johannesburg today. The much-loved and highly regarded first black woman justice to be appointed to the Constitutional Court, died last week Thursday. The 75-year-old served in the apex court for 15 years. She retired after suffering multiple injuries in a car crash near Kimberley in the Northern Cape last year. Mokgoro’s partner has been charged in connection with the accident.

Stay tuned for more news………….