News 13:00

BULLETIN 3 May 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The MK Party will support Jacob Zuma at his disciplinary hearing
# The Gauteng Health Department clarifies the commuted overtime approval process
# And rugby: The Blitzboks make a solid start in Singapore 

# The uMkhonto we Sizwe Party has announced its leader, Jacob Zuma, will present himself before the ANC’s disciplinary committee, affirming he has nothing to conceal. Following the ANC’s notification to appear at Luthuli House, Zuma faces allegations of breaching the party constitution by endorsing the MK Party and appearing on its candidate list. Despite the accusations, MK Party’s spokesperson, Nhlamulo Ndhlela, asserts Zuma’s dual membership isn’t contentious. With the hearing scheduled for next week, he says both parties await the committee’s decision.

# The Gauteng Department of Health has addressed misconceptions regarding commuted overtime approval. Spokesperson Motalatale Modiba says CEOs of hospitals will now recommend overtime, approved by the Head of Department. This decision aims to address inconsistencies and irregularities, ensuring efficient use of resources. Modiba emphasises accountability and preventing abuse of the system. He says the revised policy involves clinicians and aims to attract more specialists to work in Gauteng:

# Switzerland has invited more than 160 delegations to next month’s Ukraine peace conference, though Russia is not among them at this stage. Russia has dismissed the Lucerne event as a US-orchestrated plot. Another big unknown is whether Moscow’s key ally, China, will attend. The list of participating countries will be published shortly before the conference begins, but they include members of the G7, the G20 and the BRICS group. The G7 summit will be held in neighbouring Italy from 13 to 15 June before the conference starts.

# Rugby: The Blitzboks could not ask for a better start to the Singapore Sevens tournament by beating Spain 31-7 in their opening game. Selvyn Davids and Dewald Human scored tries in the first half to have the South Africans lead 12-0 at the break. In the second half Impi Visser, Tristan Leyds and Rosko Specman also scored tries to seal the victory. The Blitzboks face Samoa in their next Group B match at 18-minutes-past-1. In the women’s division, South Africa caused a huge upset by beating the strong American team 14-12.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-54-cents and the euro at 19-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-29-cents and Bitcoin trades at 59-thousand-391-dollars-64-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-301-dollars-33-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-71-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Charissa Button has made history by becoming the University of Pretoria’s first PhD graduate in Astrophysics. She first became interested in pursuing postgraduate studies in radio astronomy because of its unique perspective in exploring several fundamental questions in physics. These include the nature and effects of dark matter and the expansion of the universe. Button says during her studies in radio astronomy, she became interested in the vast array of physical processes that contribute to galaxy formation and evolution:

Stay tuned for more news………….