News 09:00

BULLETIN 10 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# A development economist says Eskom has gone from the best to the worst power company
# Equal Education calls on government to address school infrastructure backlogs 
# And, Rugby: Round two of the Six Nations takes place this weekend.

# A development economist, Daniel Meyer, says in 24 years Eskom has gone from being one of the best power companies in the world to one of the worst. Meyer cited to eNCA that deteriorating plant and environmental performance, coupled with years of inadequate maintenance has led to frequent load-shedding. He highlights Eskom’s increasing expenditure on diesel and mounting municipal debt as further indicators of the utility’s unreliability:

# Equal Education has called on government to address school infrastructure backlogs. The organisation’s Mahfouz Raffee says this is in line with president Cyril Ramaphosa’s emphasis on education becoming a tool to create equality during his state of the nation address. Rafee told eNCA, government has failed to deliver on its promises regarding this matter in the past:

# The British Medical Association announces a five-day strike by junior doctors in England from February 24 to 28. This decision follows National Health Service figures revealing a backlog of 7.6 million health treatments for over six million patients as of December. Junior doctors committee co-chairpersons Robert Laurenson and Vivek Trivedi have criticised government’s failure to present an improved pay offer. Health secretary Victoria Atkins expressed concerns over the strike’s impact on the service:

# Rugby: Round two of the Six Nations takes place this weekend. Scotland and France will kick off the action at Murrayfield in Edinburgh this afternoon, followed by the match between England and Wales at Twickenham in London. Tomorrow afternoon, defending champions Ireland and Italy will take to the field in Dublin. Ireland is currently on top of the log after it’s bonus point victory over France, followed by England who struggled to beat Italy last week. Scotland is third, followed by Wales, Italy and France.

# And finally, a non-governmental organisation, We Are South Africans, has donated 32-thousand kilograms of potatoes to address the pressing issue of food insecurity. The donations, reaching all nine provinces, come as millions of citizens grapple with inadequate access to food. According to Statistics South Africa, nearly 80-percent of households have adequate food access, while 15-percent struggle. Founder Gilbert Martin says the potato drive will successfully feed a million people. Martin adds this impactful effort reflects a community-driven response to alleviate hunger nationwide.

Stay tuned for more news…………