News 09:00

BULLETIN 25 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Eskom celebrates milestone savings of 16.4-million-rand in diesel
# The EFF welcomes the police raid on DA mayoral committee members in Cape Town
# And soccer: Nagelsmann extends his contract as head coach of Germany until after Euro 2028

# Eskom is celebrating a diesel costs drop by 62.4-percent, saving 16.4-billion-rand compared to last year due to improved generation capacity. This milestone also comes as load-shedding remains suspended for 303 days, marking ten-months of uninterrupted power supply. The power utility says although load-shedding is suspended, it is currently dealing with network overloading issues in certain areas due to illegal connections, vandalism, meter tampering, unauthorised network operations, theft of network equipment, and purchasing electricity from unlicensed vendors. It appealed to the public to avoid illegal connections, and report it to the authorities.

# The Johannesburg High Court has postponed former Eskom contractor, Michael Lomas’s bail application to 29 January 2025. The Investigating Directorate Against Corruption highlighted Lomas’s suicide risk and flight risk, citing his 2018 travel to the UK via Namibia despite ongoing investigations. IDAC’s Henry Mamothame says Lomas previously fought extradition to evade trial in South Africa:

# The EFF in the Western Cape has lauded the police raid on the offices of DA mayoral committee member for Safety and Security, JP Smith, and mayoral committee member for Energy, Xanthea Limberg, in Cape Town, linked to tender fraud in the construction sector. The EFF’s Ntsikelelo Tyandela has expressed support for the investigation while calling for the removal of the MMCs:

# The Louvre, the world’s most-visited museum and home to Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, has requested urgent help from the French government to restore and renovate its ageing exhibition halls and better protect its countless works of art. Louvre president Laurence des Cars says a visit to the museum has become a physical ordeal, with artworks being hard to find, lack of space for visitors to take a break, and insufficient food and sanitary facilities. Last year, the Louvre welcomed 8.7-million visitors, despite being designed to only receive four-million visitors a year.

# And soccer: Julian Nagelsmann’s contract as head coach of Germany had been extended until the end of Euro 2028 in Britain and Ireland. He says his experience at Euro 2024 in his home land convinced him to stay on for the showpiece in three years’ time as well as 2026’s World Cup in North America. Thirty-seven-year-old Nagelsmann took over in 2023 and is Germany’s second youngest head coach ever. The extension of his contract reportedly ended rumours of him returning to club soccer after 2026.

Stay tuned for more news………….