News 11:00

BULLETIN 18 August 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Duduzane Zuma defends the MK Party’s constant leadership changes
# Another deadly school shooting in the Philippines leaves two students dead
# And rugby: The All Blacks’ coach says they know what to expect from the Springboks

# The MK Party’s first deputy president, Duduzane Zuma, has defended the constant leadership changes, saying this should inspire more confidence in voters. Leader Jacob Zuma placed his son directly below him in the party hierarchy earlier this month and removed or re-assigned several senior leaders, including John Hlophe, who was replaced as first deputy president. Duduzane Zuma told Newzroom Afrika they want the best people in every position:

# Business Leadership South Africa’s CEO, Busisiwe Mavuso, has criticised the Eskom board’s resistance to the unbundling of transmission assets, accusing it of weaponising lender complexity to resist restructuring. Chairperson Mteto Nyati has maintained the power utility’s financial concerns needed to be dealt with first to enable the creation of an independent transmission system operator. The National Union of Mineworkers has approached the court to challenge Eskom’s restructuring. Mavuso says the real threat is the 114-billion-rand in municipal arrears, not unbundling.

# Gauteng MEC for Education, Lebogang Maile, has expressed concern about the impact of ongoing gang-related gun violence in Westbury on learners, educators and the broader school community. Four people were shot dead, and one was injured over the weekend. One of those shot is a learner from RW Fick Secondary School. Spokesperson Onwabile Lubhelwana says learners who missed their scheduled Assessment Common Papers and preliminary examinations as a result of the unsafe environment will be allowed to write:

Moving abroad:

# The Philippines has experienced its second fatal school shooting in two months when a learner was shot dead before the alleged killer took his own life today. The shooting took place at a school attached to the privately-run Ateneo de Zamboanga University in Zamboanga. According to a preliminary police report, the gunman brought a pistol and a rifle to the school and fired at learners inside the classroom, killing one. This comes two months after a high school shooting in Tacloban City left three children dead and 20 others wounded.

# Rugby: All Blacks coach Dave Rennie expects the Springboks to bring a powerful set-piece game and use back-to-back pressure to force mistakes at Ellis Park on Saturday. The tourists go into the series opener with confidence after beating the Stormers, Sharks and Bulls. New Zealand have added Saula Ma’u to their squad after Ollie Norris was ruled out, while Noah Hotham and Richie Mo’unga have also joined. Rennie says his team will play to their strengths:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-23-cents and the euro at 18-rand-78-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-96-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-244-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-399-dollars-61-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 93-dollars-2-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….