News 09:00

BULLETIN 19 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Paul Mashatile calls for collaboration to protect and maintain government infrastructure
# The DA supports Treasury’s decision to enforce the law in broken municipalities
# And Mixed Martial Arts: Dricus du Plessis trounces Kamaru Usman

# The DA strongly supports the National Treasury’s decision to enforce the law in 69 non-compliant municipalities across the country. In just over two weeks, 42 municipalities have complied with the National Treasury’s consequence management enforcement and will soon receive their funding tranches for July. The party’s Marina van Zyl says the fast turnaround in consequence enforcement shows Treasury is right to have pursued this path:

# Eskom is maintaining an energy surplus, regularly holding six-thousand-megawatts in cold reserve. This is due to excess capacity, providing further assurance of system adequacy. Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says diesel was deployed selectively during periods of peak demand and to maintain required reserves in accordance with the South African Grid Code. She says for the financial year to date, diesel expenditure stands at 807.4-million-rand, with an Open Cycle Gas Turbine  load factor of 1.22-percent:

# The Department of Home Affairs has urged qualifying couples to register their customary marriages before the special registration period closes at the end of this month. The special registration window, which runs from 1 September 2024 to 31 August this year, was introduced by the Minister of Home Affairs to allow couples to regularise their marital status. The department warned couples against waiting until the final days of the registration period, saying a last-minute rush could result in long queues and processing delays at its offices.

# And finally, sports news:

# Mixed Martial Arts: Former middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis, earlier this morning, recorded an impressive win over Kamaru Usman in Oklahoma City. Both fighters returned to the UFC ring after missing nearly a full year of action. The unanimous decision on points gets Du Plessis back on track after losing his UFC title to Khamzat Chimaev in August 2025. Du Plessis holds two wins over the current champion, Sean Strickland, and hopes the Usman victory will put him right back into consideration for another title fight. It was Usman’s fourth loss in five fights.

# And soccer: England ended their 2026 Fifa World Cup on a high after they defeated France 6-4 at the Miami Stadium on Saturday. It was England’s best World Cup finish since winning the tournament 60 years ago in 1966. French captain Kylian Mbappe became the top scorer in World Cup history when his second goal of the match took his tally to 22, one ahead of Argentina’s Lionel Messi. Mbappe scored ten goals in the tournament and now joins an exclusive club of players who have hit double figures in a single World Cup.

Stay tuned for more news………….