East Coast Radio Newswatch
ECR Newswatch @ 17H59
On FM, on the station app, and on OpenView Channel 606, this is East Coast Radio Newswatch. International Relations Minister Ronald Lomorla believes the bid by Turkey to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice will lend it more weight. Turkey submitted its request to join the case last week. South Africa's December 2023 case alleges that Israel's Gaza offensive launched in retaliation for Hamas's October 7 attack on Israel breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Israel has strongly denied the accusation. The case has since been joined by Colombia, Libya, Spain and Mexico. In January, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide during its military operations in Gaza, which have left nearly 40,000 people dead. And Lomorla told reporters today that he hopes the latest development will help bring about a just ruling. "To keep in any country as they come in, they bring a different and unique perspective to what one must support. They also have their own channel of information, of evidence, and also they may also want to bring a different legal perspective that will believe when assists the court in arriving. It is being one of the developing problems in the world. They are present, so if it will help them assist the court." At the same time, international pressure has mounted for a ceasefire in Gaza as Britain, France and Germany made a joint plea for an end to fighting between Israel and Hamas. At the same time, Israeli Defense Minister U.F. Gallant has told a parliamentary commission that the country has strengthened its defenses and organized what he calls offensive options as threats from Tehran and Beirut may materialize. Elsewhere, Russian President Vladimir Putin claims a Ukrainian army's invasion of the Kursk border region will be dealt with swiftly. More than 100,000 residents have had to flee after almost a week of intensifying fighting. Ukrainian forces have replaced Russian flags with their own as they progress further into the country, but Putin insists that this won't give them any advantage in potential peace talks. "It appears that the enemy is aiming to improve its negotiating positions in the future. Well, what kind of negotiations can we even talk about with people who launch indiscriminate strikes on civilians and try to create threats to nuclear energy facilities?" Here at Home Officials in Umsundu, they have warned that there will be disconnecting services to customers without standing payments. Spokesperson Adobe Gom Kiesa says that 23 schools owe the municipality a total of over 32 million rand. Kiesa says the decision comes after opportunities were extended to Kiesa in education to settle the overdue payments to no avail. She says 14 contractors have also been appointed to disconnect services to households. "We continue to appeal to all the data to come forward and make payment arrangements in order to avoid disconnection." And the Special Tribunal has invalidated a 257 million rand Hauden contract for personal protective equipment. It awarded in Kani projects and supplied by the -- it was awarded two Kani projects by the Provincial Health Department. The SIU brought the case citing non-compliance with the Public Finance Management Act and other irregularities.