News 16:00

BULLETIN 9 May 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The National Assembly delays a motion on the party funding gap 
# Cape Town attracts another major call centre company
# And rugby: The Bulls expect a tough assignment against the log leaders 

# The National Assembly has postponed a motion to address a gap in party funding legislation, allowing political parties to accept undeclared donations for a week. News24 reports the delay comes amidst consultations between parties regarding the Electoral Matters Amendment Act, which inadvertently left party funding regulations unresolved. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s recent assent to the act effectively removes regulations requiring the declaration of donations over 100-thousand-rand, and limiting donations to 15-million-rand per year. Opposition parties question the delay and seek clarity on the legislation’s status. Further consultations are scheduled for the next sitting.

Meanwhile, the ANC chairperson, Gwede Mantashe, has defended Ramaphosa’s signing the bill into law. Speaking during a campaign trail at the Richards Bay taxi rank in KwaZulu-Natal, Mantashe emphasised that the multi-party democracy fund will benefit all parties. He dismissed claims of timing related to the ANC’s financial needs for the upcoming elections:

# The City of Cape Town has welcomed a major international business process outsourcing company, Foundever, to the city. It’s parent company is based in the US and is one of the biggest companies in the global call centre industry. Mayoral committee member for Economic Growth, James Vos, says the company aims to employ about three-thousand-500 agents in Cape Town by 2026, but they anticipate hitting their target much sooner given the fast uptake in foreign clients:

Rugby: The Bulls have been the top South African side in the United Rugby Championship this season. They are in fourth place on the log with three rounds remaining to climb as high as possible and secure home games in the knock-outs. The Bulls will welcome log leaders Glasgow Warriors to Loftus Versveld on Saturday and lock Jannes Kirsten expects a tough assignment:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-53-cents and the euro at 19-rand-89-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-13-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-193-dollars-93-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-315-dollars-5-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The Copernicus Climate Change Service reported last month was the hottest April on record, marking 11 consecutive months of unprecedented high temperatures. Despite a weakened El Niño, attributed to human-induced climate change, global temperatures soared. The report indicates that April temperatures were 1.58-degrees Celsius warmer than pre-industrial levels. Copernicus Climate Change Service director Carlo Buontempo warns that greenhouse gas concentrations will likely continue pushing temperatures to new records, surpassing the 1.5-degrees Celsius warming threshold set by the Paris Agreement.

Stay tuned for more news………….