News 12:00

BULLETIN 5 January 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Oscar Pistorius is out on parole
# A climate expert urges infrastructure investment amidst 2024’s extreme weather warning
# And, cricket: All eyes on Newlands as two-day Test awaits ICC pitch assessment decision

# Oscar Pistorius was released on parole this morning and is at home. However, Reeva Steenkamp’s mother June says no amount of jail time he served could ever bring back her murdered daughter. She reiterated in a statement her acceptance of the convicted killer’s release after eight years behind bars. Pistorius fatally shot his girlfriend through a closed toilet door on Valentine’s Day in 2013. He was eventually sentenced to 13 years and five months behind bars. Steenkamp says the Parole Board’s conditions send out a clear message that gender-based violence is taken seriously.

Meanwhile, NotInMyName International has welcomed the decision by the Department of Correctional Services to place Pistorius on parole. He was initially convicted of culpable homicide in 2014, but it was later changed to murder.  NotInMyName’s secretary-general, Themba Masango, says classified as a first-time offender with a positive support system, Pistorius’s parole placement is in line with Section 73 of the Correctional Services Act:

# A climate expert warns South Africa faces an impending year marked by extreme weather events, with a likelihood of increased disastrous floods. Reflecting on the extensive floods witnessed in the preceding two years, climate researcher Nomhle Ngwenya stressed the urgent need for government to invest in robust infrastructure capable of mitigating inevitable natural disasters. Speaking to eNCA, Ngwenya calls for proactive measures to address the dual challenge of increased flood risks and persistent drought conditions to safeguard lives and the economy:

# Cricket: Cricket South Africa awaits the International Cricket Council’s report on the surface of the Newlands pitch, which saw a Test being wrapped up in 107 overs. The second Test between South Africa and India was the fastest-completed match in the history of the game with  a total of 642 balls, beating the 656 from the South Africa and Australia Test in Melbourne in 1931/32. Newlands was also the scene of an ODI debacle in 1993 during the International Series when a pitch with excessive bounce and seam movement saw Pakistan bowled out by the West Indies for 45 in just more than 19 overs and the Windies winning with seven wickets.

# And, to end with: Officials say a suicide prevention net at the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco has finally been completed. Around two-thousand people are known to have jumped to their deaths from the bridge since it opened in 1937 in the US city. For decades, families who lost loved ones to suicide at the bridge have called for a solution. The suicide deterrent system, also known as the net, has been installed around approximately 95-percent of the 2.7 kilometre bridge. The stainless-steel net was approved in 2014 but work did not start on it until four years later.

Stay tuned for more news………….