News 16:00

BULLETIN 15 April 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Torrential downpours claim lives in Durban and surrounding areas
# The EFF seeks constitutional damages over forced removals from SONAs 
# And Rugby: The Sharks are happy to host Clermont in London 

# Heavy downpours in KwaZulu-Natal have claimed several lives in Durban and surrounding areas, including a grandmother and her grandson in Verulam. Three people were found dead after their vehicle plunged down an embankment in Margate, suspected to have been swept off the road. The severe weather also caused two deaths in Folweni and one in Umlazi due to collapsed walls and structures. Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs spokesperson Siboniso Mngadi says disaster management teams are on high alert:

# The EFF says its members of Parliament, ejected for protesting at former president Jacob Zuma’s state of the nation addresses, should receive constitutional damages. Parliament maintains the ejections were justified due to disruption. At the time the EFF demanded for Zuma to repay the money used for upgrades at his Nkandla home in KwaZulu-Natal. News24 reports former EFF MP Godrich Gardee accused parliamentary authorities of using excessive force to silence criticism of Zuma. Gardee claims the protests aimed to hold Zuma accountable for non-compliance with the Public Protector’s directives.

Meanwhile, the DA says the release of over 16-thousand prisoners, allegedly to free Zuma, has led to a surge in crime. They claim 97 of the released offenders had reoffended within two months, with 433 re-offenders as of February this year. The prisoners were convicted of various crimes, including robbery, kidnapping, rape, assault, theft, and immigration offences. The party expressed shock over the mistaken release of offenders convicted of sexual offences. The DA’s Janho Engelbrecht calls on president Cyril Ramaphosa to apologise and ensure accountability.

# Nigerian investigators have recovered more than 500-million-rand in a corruption investigation involving a suspended government minister and other officials. President Bola Ahmed Tinubu suspended Humanitarian Affairs and Poverty Alleviation minister, Betta Edu in January following allegations she had diverted public funds into private bank accounts. Tinubu also suspended the head of the ministry’s Social Investment Fund Agency, Halima Shehu, over alleged graft. She was arrested and released on bail. Former poverty minister Sadiya Umar-Farouq was also reportedly taken in for questioning.

# Rugby: The Sharks will have to travel to London to host Clermont in their Challenge Cup semifinal, while Gloucester will be the home-side against Italian outfit Benetton. Both semifinals are scheduled to take place in the first weekend of May. South African clubs only received home-ground advantage up to the quarterfinals, which is why the Sharks will have to play at a neutral venue in the semis. Coach John Plumtree is just happy to reach the final four:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-99-cents and the euro at 20-rand-21-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-65-cents and Bitcoin trades at 66-thousand-87-dollars-61-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-355-dollars-57-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 89-dollars-78-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….