South Africa: Today’s latest news and headlines, Thursday 14 November

For the latest news in South Africa, look no further than out daily overview on major headlines on Thursday 14 November.

As violent storms continue to lash numerous provinces in South Africa, leading to flooding, landslides and the general displacement of citizens, on the bright side, the country has received vast sums of money in foreign funding, emanating from the BRICS Summit and Africa Investment Conference. In sports news, the SABC reconsiders its position and could likely broadcast the Afcon qualifier between Ghana and South Africa.

Today’s latest news in South Africa, Thursday 14 November

Storms wreak havoc in KwaZulu-Natal and Gauteng

While most South Africans were hoping to welcome the arrival of summer, disastrous weather conditions have beset numerous parts of the country, leading to the destruction of property and loss of life.

KwaZulu-Natal has been the site of particularly fierce storms, following Tuesday’s tornado in the midlands and a torrents of rains flooding parts of Durban. The South African Weather Service (SAWS) has warned that today’s rainfall – which is expected to exceed 100mm in some part of Durban – is likely to displace communities.

In Gauteng, severe thunderstorms have impacted Eskom’s already-meagre operational performance, leading to rolling blackouts in parts of Centurion.

While the rainfall comes at a time of a looming national water crisis, government has deployed task teams to affected provinces to assist with clean-up procedures.

Motorists in Gauteng, KwaZulu-Natal and Limpopo have been urged to travel with caution.

Africa Investment Forum nets R40 billion

The Africa Investment Forum, held in Sandton, Johannesburg, has managed to secure R40.1 billion in funding. One of the major stakeholders, the African Development Bank, noted:

“Out of the 56 transactions that went into the Board rooms, 52 secured investment interests.”

The forum is intended to stimulate growth and investor confidence within Africa. Key focus areas are business development – specifically Small, Medium and Micro-sized Enterprises – job creation and innovation in the energy sector.

The Africa Investment Forum inaugural edition was launched in 2018 in partnership with Africa50, Afrexim Bank, the Trade Development Bank, the Development Bank of South Africa, the Islamic Development Bank, the Africa Finance Corporation, the European Investment Bank.

Ramaphosa looks to score big at BRICS

Infrastructure development and possible public-private partnerships will be under the spotlight as the 11th BRICS Summit gets underway in Brazil.

President Cyril Ramaphosa arrived in Brasilia on Tuesday, where he is leading the South African delegation to the summit from 13 – 14 November.

BRICS is the association of five major emerging countries, namely Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, which together represent about 42% of the global population, 23% of gross domestic product (GDP), 30% of world territory and 18% of the global trade.

The 11th BRICS Summit is hosted by the Federative Republic of Brazil, led by President Jair Messias Bolsonaro as the 2019 BRICS Chair.

The summit is convened under the theme ‘BRICS: Economic Growth for an Innovative Future’. (Source: SAnews)

Jesse Hess’ alleged murder, and cousin, apprehended by police

Police investigating the murder of Jesse Hess and her 85-year-old grandfather, who were brutally killed in their apartment in August, have had a breakthrough in the case. The first-year University of the Western Cape theology student was found on a bed, while Chris, her grandfather, was discovered tied up in the toilet. Hess had been raped.

After months of investigating, cops received a tip-off following the rape of a 16-year-old girl from Hanover Park on Wednesday. The crime was eerily similar to the attack on Hess and involved one of investigators’ prime suspects – the students’ own cousin.

Hess’ cousins fled Cape Town, with a full-scale police manhunt hot on his heels. Cops eventually caught up with the 31-year-old in the Overberg town of Struisbaai. The suspect was taken into custody and is expected to stand trial for rape and murder.

SAA to be ‘crippled’ by strike action after announcing retrenchments

South African Airways (SAA), the country’s national carrier, is doing everything in its power to avert a complete operational meltdown, following an urgent strike application which is likely to see the airline left without cabin crew and staff.

The strike action, tabled by trade unions, comes in the wake of SAA’s confirmation of a restructuring process will result in job losses.

During a meeting with the Standing Committee on Public Accounts (Scopa), SAA revealed that, in order to rescue to business, it would need to engage a restructuring and that job losses would, unfortunately, be part of the process.

Deon Fredericks, SAA’s Acting CFO, told the media, on Tuesday, though, that if the strike goes ahead, it could destroy every single job at the state-owned airline.

Unions are expected to mobilise their members before the week is done unless another arrangement can be reached with the airline.

Bafana game against Ghana could still air on SABC

The vast majority of Bafana fans face missing out on the live action when their team takes on Ghana on Thursday night, but the South African Football Association (Safa) is trying to prevent that from happening, The Citizen reports.

The two nations begin their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations qualifying campaign with an encounter at the Cape Coast, but scores of South Africans will not be able to witness the action as things stand.

This is after the Confederation of African Football’s (Caf) partnership with French media company Lagardere came to an abrupt end, meaning Supersport would not be able to qualify any of the qualifiers.

However, according to Safa chief executive, Gay Mokoena, there are attempts being made to bring the game to the South African public.

Former Bok coach Heyneke Meyer quits Stade Francais

Former South Africa coach Heyneke Meyer has resigned from his position in charge of the French Top 14’s bottom side Stade Francais, the club announced on Tuesday.

Meyer, who led the Springboks at the 2015 Rugby World Cup, quit Stade after losing seven from the opening nine matches of the season with local reports saying he had been sacked after less than two years with the Parisian outfit.

Latest weather forecast, Thursday 14 November

Take a look at weather forecasts for all nine provinces, here.

Live traffic updates for Cape Town, Johannesburg and Durban

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