News 06:00
BULLETIN 5 February 6 am
Good morning. I am……..
In this bulletin:
# The Independent Electoral Commission is pleased with the final voter registration weekend
# Stages 2 and 3 load-shedding have been implemented until further notice
# And, Nangolo Mbumba is sworn in as Namibia’s new president
# The Independent Electoral Commission says the final voter registration weekend ahead of the elections went well. On Saturday, more than half-a-million registrations were recorded at 23-thousand-303 voting stations. At one o’clock yesterday afternoon, a total of 564-thousand-715 registrations had been recorded. Preliminary figures show KwaZulu-Natal recorded the most registrations with 131-thousand-431 followed by Gauteng and the Eastern Cape. The IEC says its website and municipal offices will remain open for registration and verification of details until president Cyril Ramaphosa proclaims the date for the elections.
Meanwhile, deputy president Paul Mashatile has rejected attempts to cast aspersions on the integrity of the upcoming elections. This comes after former president Jacob Zuma accused the Independent Electoral Commission of being biased towards the ANC, and claimed that some IEC officials could be bribed to bypass the commission’s system. Zuma has been campaigning for the newly formed uMkhonto weSizwe Party. Mashatile says he has full confidence that the IEC will hold free and fair elections as they have always done.
# Eskom has reduced load-shedding to stage two until four this afternoon, which will then be followed by stage three until five tomorrow morning. This pattern of stage two in the morning and stage three in the afternoon will be repeated until further notice. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the stabilisation in the power system necessitated a reduction in load-shedding to stage two, but the anticipated weekday electricity demand requires stage three be implemented as well:
# The ANC’s Greater Tshwane Region has condemned the false news peddled on social media suggesting the late Teboho Joala had joined the uMkhonto we Sizwe party. The ANC says it rebuts the misinformation with the contempt it deserves. It adds the peddlers of these untruths have no respect for Joala and his legacy in the ANC, an organisation he served to his last breath. ANC regional spokesperson, Bafuze Yabo, says misinformation peddling is a grave offense, not only morally but also legally.
# Namibia’s vice-president, Nangolo Mbumba, has been sworn in as the country’s new president following the sudden death of president Hage Geingob yesterday. The 82-year-old died while receiving treatment for cancer at the Lady Pohamba Hospital in the capital, Windhoek. Deputy prime minister, Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, has been appointed as the country’s new vice president with immediate effect. Mbumba says he will serve as president until the elections due later this year:
# Golf: Welshman Rhys Enoch won the SDC Open after finishing two strokes clear of South African duo Deon Germishuys and Martin Rohwer at the Zebula Golf Estate and Spa in Limpopo. South African Dylan Naidoo finished in fourth on 20 under par, with English duo George Bloor and Chris Paisley one stroke further back in a share of fifth. Enoch, who becomes a two-time Challenge Tour winner says he is happy to be back to winning ways after a difficult two years of injuries:
# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-93-cents and the euro at 20-rand-40-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-87-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-381-dollars-44-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-36-dollars-62-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 77-dollars-41-cents a barrel.
Stay tuned for more news………….