News 15:00

BULLETIN 7 March 3 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Load-shedding returns this weekend
# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky is to visit South Africa next month
# And Tennis: Female players are now eligible for paid maternity leave

# Eskom has announced that stage 3 load-shedding was enforced from 2 pm today until Monday 5 am due to the loss of two-thousand-700-MegaWatts over 14 hours. This follows the unexpected shutdown of Koeberg’s Unit 2 in Cape Town, leaving the entire nuclear power station offline. Two units at Kusile in Mpumalanga are also affected by coal supply issues. Eskom aims to restore six-thousand-200-MegaWatts by Monday and replenish emergency reserves over the weekend.

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Expropriation Act must be used to reclaim hijacked buildings in Johannesburg’s CBD. Speaking at the second meeting with the Gauteng executive, he stressed the need to restore the city’s infrastructure and bring back its former glory. Ramaphosa says the turnaround time has come and Johannesburg must be revitalised for public benefit:

The Presidency has meanwhile confirmed that Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky will visit South Africa on 10 April. The announcement follows a tense meeting between Zelensky and US president Donald Trump, which led to a temporary suspension of over a billion dollars in US military aid to Ukraine. Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya says the visit is part of Ramaphosa’s peace efforts with Zelensky and Russian president Vladimir Putin.

Meanwhile, Russia launched a massive drone and missile attack on Ukrainian energy facilities early today, just days after Zelensky and European allies proposed that Moscow and Kyiv halt strikes on critical infrastructure. The Ukrainian Air Force says Russia had launched at least 58 missiles and nearly 200 drones, damaging energy facilities from Kharkiv in the east to Ternopil in the west. Images released by the emergency services show firefighters battling a blaze on streets lined with debris in the Kharkiv region.

# Tennis: The Women’s Tennis Association is introducing up to 12 months of paid maternity leave for players. The joint initiative between the WTA and Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund will benefit at least 320 players. The PIF WTA Maternity Fund Programme will also give players access to grants for fertility treatment, including egg-freezing and in vitro fertilization. Two-time Grand Slam champion, Victoria Azarenka of Belarus, who had her son in 2016, told CNN this is an important milestone for players:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-10-cents and the euro at 19-rand-63-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-38-cents and Bitcoin trades at 89-thousand-241-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-920-dollars-31-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-49-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….