News 07:00

BULLETIN 9 March 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# SAFA house has been searched amid allegations of fraud and theft amounting to R1.3-million
# A weekend break from daytime load-shedding
# And, rugby: A second successive Six Nations title beckons for Ireland at Twickenham

# The Serious Commercial Crime Investigation Unit says it executed search and seizure warrants at the South African Football Association’s office in Gauteng, following allegations of fraud and theft amounting to 1.3-million-rand. Hawks spokesperson, Katlego Mogale, says it is alleged that between 2014 and 2018, SAFA president Danny Jordaan used the organisation’s resources for personal gain, including hiring private security and a public relations company without authorisation:

# Eskom has announced a varied weekend load-shedding schedule, featuring suspensions and alternations between stages two and one until further notice. Starting at five this morning, load-shedding will be suspended until four this afternoon, followed by stage two until five tomorrow morning. Another suspension will follow until four tomorrow afternoon, after which stage one will then be implemented until further notice. Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena attributes this reduction to the expected return of one-thousand-500 megawatts of generation capacity by tomorrow:

Meanwhile, Eskom has achieved a significant milestone in its prepaid meter recoding project, with three-million meters successfully recoded by 1 March. This initiative aims to recode all 6.8-million prepaid electricity meters before the deadline of 24 November this year. Customers are urged to follow the recoding process diligently, ensuring they enter previously purchased credit tokens before using new recoding tokens. Eskom emphasises that the recoding service is free, cautioning against potential scammers.

# Indian authorities say they had detained members of a trafficking network sending citizens of the country to fight for the Russian army in Ukraine. At least two Indian soldiers have been killed in the conflict, with several recruits saying they were shipped to the frontlines under false pretences. Investigators conducted raids across 13 locations on Thursday and detained suspects for questioning. These traffickers have been operating as an organised network and were luring Indian nationals through social media and local agents for highly paid jobs in Russia.

# And, rugby: Ireland will secure a second successive Grand Slam and Six Nations title if they can beat England with a bonus point at Twickenham this afternoon. The Irish are currently top of the log on 15 points with two matches remaining, followed by Scotland on nine points. The Scots are still on course for their first-ever top-two finish in the competition. They take on Italy in Rome today. Tomorrow’s final match of the weekend takes place in Cardiff between Wales and France.

Stay tuned for more news………….