News 12:00

BULLETIN 22 November 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Vodacom argues its CEO has the authority in the ‘Please call Me’ compensation case
# City Power extends its working hours to fast-track meter upgrades
# And rugby: Veterans Sam Cane and TJ Perenara will play their final Test for the All Blacks against Italy

# Vodacom’s legal representative, Wim Trengove, has told the Constitutional Court that only the company’s CEO, Shameel Joosub, can determine fair compensation for Please Call Me creator Nkosana Makate. This follows the Supreme Court of Appeal’s order for Vodacom to pay Makate five to 7.5-percent of revenue from the service since 2001, with estimates ranging from nine- to 63-billion-rand. Vodacom’s appeal cites procedural flaws and the potential financial impact on its operations and stakeholders.

# City Power in Johannesburg has extended its operating hours to 7 pm in a bid to complete the upgrades of prepaid meters before Sunday’s deadline. There are about one-thousand customers still requiring upgrades, 562 of whom are in Alexandra. City Power’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, says in Midrand, there were about 255 prepaid meter upgrades outstanding, mainly due to address issues:

Meanwhile, the Midvaal Municipality in Gauteng says it has completed the token identifier rollover ahead of the deadline. Eskom has been urging all prepaid electricity customers to update their meters immediately to avoid an unexpected power loss. The municipality’s Idah Satikhe says the update has been necessary because of an expiry date built into the code of Standard Transfer Specification prepaid electricity meters, the dominant system in South Africa:

# United Nations secretary-general António Guterres has made a strong call to world leaders and negotiators to overcome their disagreements and reach a historic climate finance deal. COP29 wraps up in Baku, Azerbaijan, today. Negotiators are reportedly at loggerheads over a new climate finance goal to help developing countries combat flash flooding, drought, wildfires and other natural disasters. Guterres warns that failure to reach an agreement could accelerate climate change:

# Rugby: Veterans Sam Cane and TJ Perenara will play their final Test for the All Blacks against Italy in La Nucia tomorrow night. Cane, a former captain who played 103 Tests for New Zealand, will wear the number seven jersey, and scrumhalf Perenara will earn his 89th cap from the bench. Both will play club rugby in Japan from next year, making them ineligible for the national team. Head coach Scott Robertson made five changes to the team that lost narrowly to France in Paris last weekend.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-4-cents and the euro at 18-rand-88-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 99-thousand-322-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-697-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-31-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….