News 18:00

BULLETIN 26 June 6 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# An initiation indaba is launched to mitigate the high death rate at initiation schools
# The Public Servants Association declares an Eastern Cape clinic unsafe
# And rugby: Oli Kebble joins the French side Oyonnax

# Efforts continue to mitigate the high number of deaths in initiation schools. The Commission for the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Cultural, Religious and Linguistic Communities has launched its National Initiation Indaba in Boksburg, Ekurhuleni. The three-day event is discussing how to best address the tragedies. CRL Chairperson David Mosoma urges clamping down on illegal initiation schools whose practices compromise the lives of young boys:

# The Public Servants Association says it’s alarmed by the dangerous state of the Mpozolo Clinic in the Eastern Cape, posing severe risks to patients and staff. The clinic’s building has structural hazards, broken windows and overgrown grounds infested with snakes. The PSA’s Thami Makuzeni demands urgent intervention from health and safety authorities to ensure the well-being of healthcare workers and patients:

# The I_Menstruate Movement has launched the Exesheni Exhibition in Franschhoek, urging president Cyril Ramaphosa to provide free menstrual products. The exhibition highlighted that over 80-percent of girls surveyed across 18 schools lack regular access to sanitary towels, showcasing the struggles faced without adequate menstrual hygiene resources. Founder Tracey Malawana emphasised the urgent need for governmental support to combat “period poverty” nationwide as high costs often force families to make difficult financial choices.

# Rugby: A key member of the 2023-2024 United Rugby Championship-winning Glasgow Warriors has signed a two-year deal with second-tier Oyonnax from next season. The South African born Scotland prop Oli Kebble joins the French side after their relegation from the Top 14. The 32-year-old Kebble made the last of his twelve Test appearances in 2022 and helped Glasgow beat the Bulls last week to lift the URC trophy for the first time.

# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-21-cents and the euro at 19-rand-46-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-3-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-914-dollars-2-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-298-dollars-78-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 84-dollars-68-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Soaring temperatures have taken their toll on a wax statue of US president Abraham Lincoln in Washington DC. The over 1.8-metre replica of the Lincoln Memorial first began to slump in the heat, before losing its head altogether. Then one of the legs dripped off the torso and a foot turned into a blob. The chair sank into the ground. The wax statue had been placed outside a school on the site of Camp Barker – a Civil War-era refugee camp that housed formerly enslaved African Americans.

Stay tuned for more news………….