News 13:00

BULLETIN 14 May 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Electoral Commission receives additional funding ahead of the local government elections
# The Breede River floods devastate vine farmers’ harvest preparations
# And public comment on the Whistleblower Protection Bill ends today

# The Electoral Commission has received an additional 1.1-billion-rand from National Treasury ahead of the November local government elections. The IEC told Parliament the funding follows concerns over a budget shortfall from its initial 3.1-billion-rand allocation. The additional funds will support election operations and related elections costs. IEC chief financial official Dawn Mbatha told SABC News access to funding remains subject to submission of audited financial statements:

# Several top vine farms are counting their losses following devastating widespread damage to vineyards and infrastructure following this week’s flooding of the Breede River in the Western Cape. Farmers say rising water levels forced evacuations and disrupted harvesting operations. Emergency teams have been monitoring affected areas as concerns grow over financial losses and long-term damage to crops. Authorities are assessing the extent of the disaster, while producers warn the floods could impact wine production and local jobs. Cleanup operations will continue in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the Western Cape government says the N1 in the Cape Winelands was reopened after storm disruptions, facilitating one direction at a time, while heavy delays are expected. Spokesperson Regan Thaw says roads agency SANRAL has worked tirelessly to reopen the route between Worcester and Paarl, with traffic controls and a stop-and-go system in operation at the Rawsonville weighbridge. He says there may also be deviations at places, and calls for patience:

# The deadline for public comment for the Protected Disclosures Bill closes today. The bill seeks to overhaul South Africa’s whistleblower protection framework by introducing stronger safeguards, clearer reporting procedures and financial incentives for people who disclose wrongdoing. While some civil organisation’s support the bill, the Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says loopholes still leave whistleblowers at risk. Open Secrets says the bill fails to adequately address victimisation and retaliation against whistleblowers.

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner looks destined for a sixth consecutive Masters One-thousand title in the Italian Open in his homeland. He meets Andrey Rublev in the quarterfinals in Rome today, with the Russian beating him in only three of their previous ten encounters. Rublev has dropped to 16th in the world rankings after reaching his best position of fifth in September 2021. Sinner is regarded as absolute favourite after winning his last 31 matches at this level – equal to Serbian Novak Djokovic’s record.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 19-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-17-cents and Bitcoin trades at 79-thousand-730-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-692-dollars-51-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 103-dollars-85-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….