Breakfast Edition: 18 April 2016
WATCH & LISTEN: Here is a recap of this morning's top news stories.
CONDOLENCES AFTER ANC BUS ACCIDENT: Ekurhuleni Mayor Mondli Gungubele has expressed shock at the accident in which 11 African National Congress members died and 59 were injured when the bus they were travelling in left the road and rolled several times on the N1 between Ventersburg and Winburg in the Free State on Sunday morning. The bus was carrying ANC members home to Ekurhuleni in Gauteng after they had attended the launch of the ANC's August 3 local government elections manifesto in Port Elizabeth on Saturday. "There is no way to describe how I feel right now. These comrades were with us yesterday [Saturday] as we launched our manifesto and today [Sunday] they are no more. May their souls rest in peace. The loss of one life is a disaster enough. This is a devastation," Gungubele said in a statement. The ANC Women's League also expressed great sadness at the tragic accident that involved ANC Ekurhuleni volunteers, believed to be from ward 60. The Free State health department's Mondli Mvambi says the accident is still being investigated.
REACTION TO ANC BUS ACCIDENT: The DA, EFF as well as Cope's Dennis Bloem expressed condolences with families and whished the injured a speedy recovery.
EMPTY SEATS AT ANC MANIFESTO LAUNCH: The blazing sun caused African National Congress supporters to shun sections of the Nelson Mandela Bay Stadium in Port Elizabeth on Saturday and these sections remained empty even as President Jacob Zuma delivered his speech after 1pm at the party's August 3 local government elections manifesto launch. "The people that have entered and have been recorded are more than 42,000. There are many people here. There are many buses that have arrived. Ten buses. Some taxis have gone to the townships to fetch more people who are coming to join us," ANC national chairwoman Baleka Mbete said to loud cheers by the ANC faithful. Samkele Maseko reports.
OSCAR PISTORIUS BACK IN COURT: Convicted murderer, Oscar Pistorius was expected to appear in the Pretoria High Court on Monday morning. Pistorius would be resentenced after his conviction of culpable homicide was overturned in the Supreme Court of Appeal. The Constitutional Court also upheld the conviction of murder of his girlfriend, Reeva Steenkamp. Maryke Vermaak has more.
MASSIVE EARTH QUAKE HITS JAPAN: Rescuers used shovels to dig through mountains of soil Sunday as they raced against the threat of more landslides to reach people still trapped by two big earthquakes in Japan. Some 42 people are now known to have died in the double disaster according to Jiji Press, and some are still missing, feared buried in wrecked houses or under torrents of mud. Heavy rain forecast for the area around Kumamoto did not materialise Sunday, offering some relief for officials who cautioned more aftershocks might spark further mudslides.
MUGABE IS A GRAN-DDAD: Zimbabwe's 92-year-old President Robert Mugabe's first grandchild, a boy, was born in Asia this week and not in Zimbabwe. His only daughter, Bona married to a Zimbabwe pilot, Simba Chikowore, chose to have her child far from home. Bona's mother Grace was with her at the birth which was said by some Zimbabwe media to have been in Dubai. Others said the baby was born in Singapore. No official announcement has yet been made. Bona and Simba were married in a lavish wedding in 2014 and live in one of her father's homes in Harare.
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