News 08:00

BULLETIN 18 August 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Dricus du Plessis successfully defends his mixed martial arts World Champion title
# President Ramaphosa urges the finalisation of a fair pandemic agreement amid the Mpox outbreak
# And, ActionSA calls on mayor Dada Morero to prioritise governance and service delivery 

# We start with Mixed martial arts news: South Africa’s UFC middleweight champion Dricus du Plessis successfully defended his title this morning in Perth, by winning by submission in the fourth round of his fight against Nigerian-New Zealander Israel Adesanya. The 30-year-old Du Plessis defended his title for the first time since winning it in January against American Sean Strickland. After beating the Wallabies on Saturday, the Springbok rugby team gave their full support to Du Plessis, with captain Siya Kolisi and lock Eben Etzebeth walking him out to the octagon. The weekend was billed as a South African takeover of Perth with Du Plessis headlining UFC 305 and the Boks playing the Wallabies.

# President Cyril Ramaphosa has called on the international community to finalise a fair Pandemic Agreement following the Mpox outbreak. As the AU Champion on Pandemic Prevention, Ramaphosa expressed concern over the surge in cases. Over 17-thousand cases and 517 deaths have been reported across 13 AU member states this year. Ramaphosa has rallied support of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’s declaration of Mpox as a public health emergency. He urged equitable access to vaccines and resources, emphasising the need for global cooperation to address the crisis.

# Eskom has reiterated that its Save Your Transformers, Save Lives campaign, calls on the public to avoid illegal connections and report suspicious activities. Spokesperson Daphne Mokoena highlights that while load-shedding is suspended, network overloading issues persist due to illegal actions, risking unplanned power outages. She stresses the importance of buying electricity only from licensed vendors:

# ActionSA says they will hold the Johannesburg executive committee to account despite their support for mayor Dada Morero. ActionSA’s Funzi Ngobeni emphasised the need for stabilising governance and ensuring effective frontline service delivery. Ngobeni pledged constructive legislative oversight, on infrastructure renewal and inner-city rejuvenation. He called for tackling corruption, and the city’s billing crisis to restore Johannesburg’s progress and growth:

# Hamas has described suggestions of progress on an Israel-Gaza ceasefire deal as an illusion. Following two days of US-backed talks in Qatar American president Joe Biden said on Friday a ceasefire is closer than ever. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office on Saturday said Israeli negotiators are cautiously optimistic about moving towards agreement on a deal. However, a senior Hamas official told the BBC earlier there had been no progress and negotiators are selling illusions. But the mediators said that the past two days of ceasefire discussions had been “serious, constructive and conducted in a positive atmosphere”.

Stay tuned for more news………….