News 09:00

BULLETIN 6 March 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Electricity minister says work is being done to improve the operational capacity of Eskom plants
# TLU SA is concerned by the misuse of funds in the Department of Agriculture
# And motorsport: The FIA president Ben Sulayem is facing fresh allegations

# Electricity minister, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says he has been working closely with Eskom to address all plant-related shortcomings, resulting in significant improvement of the power utility’s output. An Opera Assessment Report on the operations of Eskom’s coal-fired power stations was released last week. It found that the underperformance of coal-fired power stations is primarily attributable to the dysfunctional and overly complex management system within the power utility. Ramokgopa says numerous interventions aimed at improving the operational capacity of Eskom plants have been undertaken.

# Agricultural union TLU SA says the misuse of funds in the Department of Agriculture, as revealed in a parliamentary committee budget review and recommendations report, is concerning. The report indicates that wasteful expenditure of 33-thousand-rand in the 2021-2022 financial year drastically increased to 30-million-rand in 2022-2023. TLU SA’s, Bennie van Zyl, says most of the wasteful expenditure is due to payment for services not rendered:

# eThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, says all the necessary steps within the confines of the law will be taken, to ensure that employees engaged in the illegal strike action return to work or face dismissal. The municipality has obtained an urgent Labour Court interdict against striking employees affiliated with the South African Municipal Workers Union. The municipality’s spokesperson, Gugu Sisilana, says 20 striking workers have already been suspended:

# Chinese Ambassador Chen Xiaodong has concluded his term in South Africa after serving since 2020. Under his tenure, he facilitated Chinese aid donations during the pandemic and expanded South African exports like beef and Rooibos tea into China. Chinese investment in South Africa’s economy also continued, creating job opportunities. At his farewell reception in Pretoria, Xiaodong praised the ongoing bilateral relations in trade and politics between the two countries:

# Motorsport: Formula 1’s governing body president, Mohammed Ben Sulayem, is facing new allegations. He is now being accused of telling officials not to certify the Las Vegas circuit for its race last year. Reportedly the claim is from the same whistleblower, who accused the FIA president of allegedly telling officials to overturn a penalty, to Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso in Saudi Arabia last year. The FIA has confirmed that its compliance officer has received a report detailing potential allegations involving certain members of its governing bodies.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-95-cents and the euro at 20-rand-57-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-7-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-480-dollars-35-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-125-dollars-71-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 82-dollars-15-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….