News 09:00

BULLETIN 15 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# COSATU is deeply concerned about Trump’s announcement of likely tariffs on South African exports
# 2024 was the deadliest year for journalists in over three decades
# And rugby: Four changes in the Stormers line up for their URC match against the Lions

# Cosatu says it is deeply worried by the United States president Donald Trump’s announcement of pending tariffs on South African and other nations’ exports. Cosatu’s spokesperson, Matthew Parks says this threatens thousands of South African jobs in many sectors, including agriculture, mining, jewellery, chemicals, automotive, and clothing. He says with a 41.9-percent unemployment rate, South Africa cannot afford further job losses:

# Eskom says the power system continues to be stable with load-shedding remaining suspended. Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena says the system also has sufficient emergency reserves. She says from 1 April last year to 14 February, load-shedding was suspended for 317 days, compared to 32 days in the same period last year. She adds that electricity supply was available 99-percent of the time, compared to just 10-percent last year:

Regarding another development Eskom says year-to-date diesel savings continue and have reached more than 17-billion-rand, which is 61.2-percent less than the 28.7-billion-rand spent last year. It is an improvement of more than 1-billion-rand from the previous week. Mokwena says between April last year and February, approximately 11.13-billion-rand on fuel for its open cycle gas turbine fleet was spent, which is below budget, generating one-thousand-825-gigawatt-hours:

# Last year was the deadliest for journalists in more than three decades, with the majority killed in the Middle East. According to a report by the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 124 journalists and media workers were killed in 2024. Nearly 70-percent of those deaths were at the hands of the Israeli military in Gaza and Lebanon, with 82 Palestinian journalists killed in Gaza. The Israel Defense Forces in a statement to CNN, denied targeting media workers, saying to remain in an active combat zone has inherent risks.

# And rugby: Stormers coach John Dobson has made four changes to his starting team for this afternoon’s United Rugby Championship clash with the Lions in Johannesburg. JJ Kotze comes in as the starting hooker in place of Joseph Dweba, while Ali Vermaak is back from injury to replace Sti Sithole at loosehead prop. In the backline, Herschel Jantjies comes from the bench in place of Stefan Ungerer as the starting scrumhalf, and Angelo Davids is on the left wing for Leolin Zas, who was withdrawn this week due to illness.

Stay tuned for more news………….