News 16:00

BULLETIN 18 May 4 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA appoints Glynnis Breytenbach as its new chief whip in Parliament
# The FF Plus welcomes the Constitutional Court’s blow to the National Health Insurance Act 
# And tennis: Sinner regards Roland Garros as his most important tournament of the year

# The DA has appointed Glynnis Breytenbach as its new chief whip in the National Assembly. It says she brings 12-years of parliamentary experience and decades as a senior state prosecutor to the role. Breytenbach will work alongside deputy chief whip Baxolile Nodada. Parliamentary leader George Michalakis says Breytenbach will oversee the party’s parliamentary procedures and serve as one of its chief negotiators in the government of national unity:

# The Freedom Front Plus welcomes a Constitutional Court ruling declaring the certificate of need in the National Health Insurance Act unconstitutional. The party says the judgment confirms long-standing warnings that the NHI would not withstand constitutional scrutiny. The FF Plus’s Philip van Staden urges government to halt the NHI process and return to the drawing board to develop a more sustainable healthcare system:

# Forum for South Africa has noted reports that criminally-accused Vusimusi “Cat” Matlala is in discussions with the Investigative Directorate Against Corruption over a possible plea deal. These reportedly hinges on his willingness to provide evidence implicating senior police officials and politicians in the corruption probe linked to his company, Medicare 24. FOSA’s leader, Tebogo Mashilompane, says if Matlala is prepared to expose corruption, the process must be pursued decisively:

# Tennis: World number one Jannik Sinner regards the French Open as his most important tournament of the year after recording his 34th consecutive Masters One-thousand victory at the Italian Open yesterday. He defeated Norwegian Casper Ruud in the final in Rome to become the first local champion in 50-years since Adriano Pannetti in 1976. The now 75-year-old handed him the trophy. Sinner is the all-out favourite to clinch his first title at Roland Garros in the absence of great rival Carlos Alcaraz, who beat him in last year’s final.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-64-cents and the euro at 19-rand-37-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-27-cents and Bitcoin trades at 77-thousand-404-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-553-dollars-32-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 106-dollars-31-cents a barrel.

# And finally: The United Nations says one of the world’s fastest-growing challenges is the global housing crisis, which affects nearly 2.8 billion people worldwide. More than 1.1 billion people live in slums or informal settlements, and more than 120 million people over the last decade were either born into or moved into slums and informal settlements. The UN warns the millions living in unsafe housing are among the first to suffer from floods, heatwaves and other extreme events that are made worse as a result of the man-made climate crisis.

Stay tuned for more news………….