News 16:00

BULLETIN 16 April 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa calls for stronger intergovernmental cooperation in the Eastern Cape
# The Charlotte Maxeke Hospital faces a court challenge for denying a Zimbabwean teen a lifesaving liver transplant
# And Olympics: SASCOC is in the consultative stage before the bid for 2036 or 2040

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says stronger intergovernmental cooperation is key to fixing service delivery and governance challenges in the Eastern Cape. Speaking at a meeting between the national executive and the provincial executive council in Nelson Mandela Bay, Ramaphosa welcomed the province’s alignment with national priorities but raised concerns over infrastructure backlogs, poor service delivery, and financial mismanagement. He calls for a credible, joint plan under the district development model to improve people’s lives:

# The Charlotte Maxeke Hospital in Johannesburg is facing an urgent court challenge after refusing to assist a 15-year-old Zimbabwean girl in need of a liver transplant. The girl was diagnosed with auto-immune hepatitis and her mother says the hospital demanded valid documents before treatment. Human rights lawyer Simba Chitando calls it a blatantly xenophobic act as the teenager’s condition continues to worsen. The family argues the denial violates her constitutional right to life and protection under the Children’s Act. The matter is expected to be heard in court soon.

# The Public Servants Association is calling on the Border Management Authority and the Department of Home Affairs to immediately pause the rollout of the body-worn camera policy and initiate a transparent and inclusive consultation process. The union is urging the BMA to engage in genuine dialogue with organised labour to co-develop a policy that is ethical, lawful, and sustainable. The association’s Claude Naiker says employees must be consulted and fully informed about how this technology will affect their responsibilities:

# The chairperson of the Tshwane Road and Transport Section 79 Oversight Committee, Ngoako Seanego, has condemned the social media posts of a ward councillor leading community members in planting trees in the middle of the road as a form of protest. He says this form of expression constitutes vandalism. He says they are aware of the damage done to the roads by the recent heavy rains. Seanego says they are doing their best to use the city’s available resources to address both the backlog and the recently damaged road infrastructure in all seven regions of the city.

# Olympics: The South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee is hopeful that it could host the 2036 or 2040 Olympic and Paralympic Games. SASCOC president Barry Hendricks confirmed to SABC Sport that a consultative process is underway, as they await government support before an official bid is launched. Hendricks says South Africa faces competition from eleven other interested nations, including India and Egypt:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-84-cents and the euro at 21-rand-39-cents. One British pound costs 25-rand-2-cents and Bitcoin trades at 84-thousand-43-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-306-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 64-dollars-66-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….