News 07:00

BULLETIN 18 March 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Paul Mashatile says South Africa is addressing the problems at the country’s ports
# Electricity costs surge as Nersa approves Eskom’s tariff increase
# And cricket: Faf du Plessis will be the Delhi Capitals’ vice-captain in the Indian Premier League

# Deputy president Paul Mashatile has assured executives of Japanese automobile manufacturer, Isuzu, that South Africa is actively working to resolve its port and infrastructure issues. He began his three-day working visit in Tokyo on Monday by visiting the Isuzu Fujisawa Plant Service. The Isuzu Motors South Africa Struandale Plant in Gqeberha, Eastern Cape, produces 28-thousand-500 vehicles per annum and has dealerships across 26 countries in Africa. Mashatile has described Isuzu as a model investor in South Africa, contributing to employment, skills development, and supplier and enterprise development. 

# South Africans are facing steep electricity increases, with Eskom direct customers set to pay up to 12.74-percent more from next month. Municipalities will see a rise of 11.32-percent starting from 1 July this year. The tariff hikes are part of Eskom’s strategy to recover approved revenues and address financial challenges. Energy regulator, Nersa’s spokesperson Charles Hlebela says stakeholder feedback was taken into account before finalising the increases, which will affect households, businesses, and municipal customers:

# Minister of Public Works and Infrastructure, Dean Macpherson, will host the minister in the Presidency from Tanzania in Boksburg, to discuss South Africa’s Expanded Public Works Programme. The meeting will focus on transformative impact through entrepreneurship and skills development. The Tanzanian delegation, including government officials, the private sector, and academia, will explore how enhancement of the Expanded Public Works Programme can bring a meaningful impact locally and internationally.

# AfriForum has submitted a Promotion of Access to Information Act application to each of Gauteng’s three metropolitan municipalities, Ekurhuleni, Johannesburg, and Tshwane, to obtain facts about these metros’ high water consumption. The three metros’ latest levels of water consumption exceeded the amount of water that can be supplied by Rand Water by approximately 14-percent. AfriForum’s, Marais de Vaal, says the residents’ right to access water is being undermined by municipalities that are not managing their water supply systems properly:

# European Union Foreign Policy chief, Kaja Kallas, says Russia does not want peace in Ukraine and cannot be trusted to advance such a goal. Russian president Vladimir Putin expressed support for the idea of a 30-day ceasefire but set out several conditions for it to happen. These include addressing the root cause of the war, as well as details on who will enforce the ceasefire and how. Kallas says with Ukraine already accepting the ceasefire, the ball is now in Russia’s court:

# Cricket: Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis will be Axar Patel’s deputy at Delhi Capitals in this year’s Indian Premier League. Du Plessis captained Royal Challengers Bengaluru for three seasons until last year, but wasn’t retained. Delhi bought him at auction for 4.3-million-rand. Delhi has never won the competition. Du Plessis has been playing in the IPL since 2012. The 40-year-old batter scored four-thousand-571 runs in 145 IPL matches. The IPL starts on Saturday when Kolkata Knight Riders host RCB.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-9-cents and the euro at 19-rand-74-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-50-cents and Bitcoin trades at 83-thousand-348-dollar-10-cents. Gold sells at three-thousand-1-dollars-14-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….