News 12:00

BULLETIN 6 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Madlanga commission plans to hand its interim report over by year-end
# The Labour Department has received 68 compensation claims from the George building collapse
# And the death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in Philippines rises to 114

# The Madlanga commission investigating police corruption, aims to deliver an interim report to president Cyril Ramaphosa before the end of the year, though timelines remain uncertain due to fresh evidence emerging daily. Speaking to the SABC, the commission’s spokesperson, Jeremy Michaels, says investigators and legal teams are working around the clock to address new information and allegations. He confirmed that preparations for phase two of the hearings are underway and it should begin soon:

# Eskom is concerned about ongoing misinformation about its system performance and diesel consumption, reiterating it continues to share transparent, data-based updates on its operations every Friday. The power utility is forced to burn billions of rands worth of diesel due to its generation fleet not being reliable enough to produce enough electricity consistently. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says diesel continues to be used strategically, with open-cycle gas turbines forming an integral part of the generation fleet:

# The Department of Employment and Labour says it has received 68 claims related to the George building collapse through the Compensation Fund. Fifteen of these are from South Africans and 53 are from foreign nationals. Thirty-four construction workers lost their lives when a five-storey partially built structure caved in last May. The department says families of 28 of the 34 workers who died have submitted claims. It adds that it is struggling to process some of the claims due to the lack of proper documentation.

Moving abroad:

# The death toll from Typhoon Kalmaegi in the Philippines rose to 114 with another 127 people still missing. The storm that devastated the country’s central regions, regained strength and is now heading towards Vietnam. In the neighbouring country’s Gia Lai province, some 350-thousand people are expected to evacuate by the middle of the day. Authorities warn of heavy rains and damaging winds that could cause flooding in low-lying areas and disrupt agricultural activity.

# Tennis: Forty-five-year-old Venus Williams plans to play in the Auckland Classic in New Zealand in January. The former world number one and seven-time Grand Slam champion had been awarded a wild card for the tournament taking place from the fifth to the 11th. It is used as warm-up for the Australian Open, starting in Melbourne the next day. Auckland tournament director Nicolas Lamperin says the American is one of the great players of the modern era and is in a remarkable shape and form.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-36-cents and the euro at 19-rand-98-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 103-thousand-254-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and 15-dollars-10-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-63-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….