News 12:00

BULLETIN 11 March 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A bus accident claims the lives of twelve people in Kempton Park
# The City of Johannesburg owes 500-million-rand to lawyers and debt collectors
# And the trial of seven accused in Diego Maradona’s death starts in Buenos Aires

# Twelve people have died after a bus overturned on the R21 North just before the OR Tambo International Airport in Kempton Park, Gauteng, this morning. The Ekurhuleni Disaster and Emergency Management Services has confirmed the bus rolled several times. EMS spokesperson, William Ntladi, says the victims are nine women and three men:

Meanwhile, KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Transport and Human Settlements, Siboniso Duma, says plans are underway to ensure that the nine victims of Sunday’s bus accident in the province are given dignified memorial services and funerals. The bus, carrying church members from the Twelve Apostles Church in Trinity, crashed while travelling on the N2. Duma plans to visit the victims’ families this week:

# More than 90 lawyers and debt collectors are allegedly owed over 500-million-rand by the City of Johannesburg. Allegations suggest officials are receiving kickbacks from debtors, bypassing city accounts. The affected service providers, who have not been paid since August, say the metro’s decision to recall accounts threatens their businesses. The metro’s spokesperson, Kgamanyane Maphologela, denied corruption claims to Sunday World, stating that outstanding claims are under review and payments will be processed accordingly.

# The trial of seven medical professionals accused in the death of Argentinian soccer icon Diego Maradona starts in the capital of Buenos Aires today. Maradona was 60 when he died in November 2020 while recovering from brain surgery. The official cause of death was found to be a heart attack, but prosecutors charged the accused with providing reckless and deficient home treatment. A panel of 20 medical experts concluded in 2021 Maradona would’ve had a better chance of survival with adequate treatment in an appropriate medical facility.

# Soccer: Manchester United’s co-owner, Jim Ratcliffe, says the club would have run out of money by the end of this year if proactive measures were not taken. A mid-season rise in some ticket prices and hundreds of redundancies are among the moves taken by the club, which have attracted criticism. Ratcliffe told BBC Sport his mission is to make United the most profitable club in the world and to do that, difficult decisions need to be taken:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-25-cents and the euro at 19-rand-90-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-59-cents and Bitcoin trades at 80-thousand-882-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-905-dollars-67-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 69-dollars-32-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….