April 17, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines:

South Africa inflation slows slightly more than expected in March

PSA slams govt for hiring Cuban doctors amid employment crisis in SA

And, Labour Party approaches ConCourt to postpone election date

South Africa inflation slows slightly more than expected in March

South Africa's headline consumer inflation fell to 5.3% year on year in March from 5.6% in February, statistics agency data showed today.

Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast that inflation would slow to 5.4% in annual terms.

The South African Reserve Bank kept its main interest rate unchanged at 8.25% last month, saying its policy stance needed to remain restrictive to tackle higher inflation expectations.

It expects headline inflation to reach the midpoint of its target range of 4.5% only near the end of 2025.

PSA slams govt for hiring Cuban doctors amid employment crisis in SA

Trade union, the Public Servants Association is calling out government for the continued employment of Cuban doctors while South Africa faces high rates of unemployment.

The PSA claimed the Gauteng Department of Health was hiring Cuban doctors “at extremely high salaries without justification”.

It said the Gauteng Department of Health has appointed doctors from Cuba at a rate of R14-million per year, monies that could have been used to employ and pay South African doctors.

It added that the agreement between South Africa and Cuba could not continue in light of South Africa’s own employment challenges.

It said the Health Department should “act responsibly” towards South Africans and rather look to provide employment to them.

Labour Party approaches ConCourt to postpone election date

The Labour Party of South Africa has noted that owing to Electoral Court delays in its case to reopen the Independent Electoral Commission’s online portal, the party will now be launching an application to the Constitutional Court seeking to set aside the electoral timetable and postpone the elections scheduled for May 29.

On Monday, the Electoral Court handed down judgment in the Labour Party’s application to reopen the IEC online portal, which the party said was unstable during the uploading period during which parties were asked to submit the required documents needed to contest the elections.

Parties had until 17:00 on March 8 to ensure all documents were submitted.

The party explained that the judgment contained a minority dissent of some of the judges on the panel who agreed with most, if not all, of the Labour Party’s arguments.

After meeting with its legal team and considering the Electoral Court’s judgment and the minority dissent, the Labour Party made the call that the relief that was initially sought has effectively become moot.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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