News 12:00

BULLETIN 27 October 12 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Zuma’s foundation says the ruling on his legal fees are inconsistent with constitutional principles
# Eskom is to return more generation capacity to service to further strengthen grid stability
# And rugby: Rassie Erasmus has high hopes for the end-of-year Tests

# The JG Zuma Foundation has criticised the recent ruling on former president Jacob Zuma’s legal fees, saying it shows the ongoing injustices against him. Last week, the Gauteng High Court ordered Zuma to pay back the state 28.9-million-rand for his legal fees in the long-running arms deal corruption case. The foundation’s Mzwanele Manyi says Zuma is entitled to consider pursuing a damages claim against the state for the immense financial and personal harm he continues to endure because of this injustice:

# Eskom says it is planning to return a total of one-thousand-715-megawatts of generation capacity to service this week to further strengthen grid stability. The power utility’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says during the period between 10 and 23 October, Eskom recorded an average of nine-thousand-954-megawatts in unplanned outages. She says this is an improvement from 11-thousand-155-megwatts during the same period last year:

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says conflicts and wars, contestations over trade, the energy transition and the pace of the digital revolution are reshaping the international order. He gave a public lecture at the University of Malaya today. Ramaphosa says the Israel-Hamas ceasefire is welcomed, but the concern is that it is being undermined by continued assaults on Gaza and the West Bank. He says the international community must ensure that the peace deal provides a path towards Palestinian statehood and self-determination:

# Pakistan’s Defense minister, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, issued a stark warning that failure in the ongoing Istanbul peace negotiations with Afghanistan’s Taliban could lead to an open war along the shared border. The high-stakes talks aim to solidify a recent ceasefire and establish a concrete monitoring mechanism to prevent cross-border militant attacks, primarily by the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan. Despite a temporary lull in deadly clashes, Islamabad insists Kabul must take verifiable action to prevent further escalation and ensure lasting regional stability.

# Rugby: Springbok coach Rassie Erasmus says he has high hopes for their demanding five-week European tour. South Africa will face Japan, France, Italy, Ireland and Wales on the northern hemisphere tour in November. The first group of players and management departed over the weekend, with the full squad set to assemble in the UK today, ahead of the tour opener against Japan at Wembley in London on Saturday. Erasmus admits the tour will be challenging given the quality of the opposition they will face.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-22-cents and the euro at 20-rand-3-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-95-cents and Bitcoin trades at 115-thousand-530-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-and-59-dollars-65-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 65-dollars-10-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….