News 11:00

BULLETIN 18 January 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Mbeki claims the Eskom crisis was a deliberate political intervention
# An Ekurhuleni mayoral committee member is missing after his vehicle was swept away in Mozambique
# And, progress is made in containing the Franschhoek mountain fire

# Former president Thabo Mbeki says Eskom’s 2008 power crisis was a deliberate political intervention and nor mechanical. Speaking in Bloemfontein, Mbeki said Eskom was forced to declare an emergency, allowing coal purchases without tender, which doubled prices overnight. He cited a Special Investigating Unit 2017 report concluding that the January 2008 power cuts were internally caused, dismissing claims of cadre deployment as the root cause:

# The City of Ekurhuleni has confirmed that the mayoral committee member for Roads and Transport Management, Andile Mngwevu, is missing after the vehicle he was travelling in was swept away by floodwaters in Chokwé, Mozambique. The city’s spokesperson Phakamile Mbengashe says a South African rescue mission deployed to the area has established contact with one of the five occupants who were in the vehicle. Search and verification efforts are continuing, with authorities working closely with Mozambican emergency services. The status and whereabouts of the other occupants also remain unconfirmed:

# The Cape Winelands District Municipality says good progress has been made in containing the fire in La Motte, Franschhoek, which started yesterday afternoon. The fire line stretched up the mountain toward the Three Streams area. Cooler evening temperatures assisted firefighting efforts. The Cape Winelands District Municipality spokesperson Anesca Roodt warns that the high temperatures forecast for today may intensify conditions:

# Indonesian authorities located the wreckage of a fisheries surveillance plane that went missing in South Sulawesi near a fog-covered mountain but are still searching for the 11 people on board. The aircraft lost contact with air traffic control on Saturday. There were eight crew members and three passengers on board the plane, which was chartered by Indonesia’s Marine Affairs and Fisheries Ministry to conduct air surveillance on fisheries. The passengers were ministry staff members. Rescuers have deployed one-thousand-200 personnel to search for the missing passengers and crew.

# Motorsport: Qatari Nasser Al Attiyah and Belgian Fabian Lurquin survived a late scare to take their Dacia Sandrider to victory as Al Attiyah scored his sixth Car victory in the gruelling two-week Dakar Rally over eight-thousand kilometres. He previously won in 2011 with Volkswagen, 2015 for Mini and driving a Toyota in 2019, 2022 and 2024. It is former airline pilot Lurquin’s first Dakar Car win.  Argentina’s Luciano Benavides claimed the Bike title by just two seconds, the narrowest winning margin in the event’s history. The KTM rider sealed victory after overnight leader Ricky Brabec of the United States lost his way late in a navigation error seven kilometres from the line.

# And tennis: Top seed Carlos Alcaraz will launch his bid for a career Grand Slam today, wanting an elusive Australian Open title. The title is the only one missing from his major collection. Alcaraz will meet home player Adam Walton in the night match on Rod Laver Arena. Should he wins the title he would join Andre Agassi, Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Novak Djokovic and Rod Laver as just the sixth man to win all four major titles. He would also become the youngest, surpassing Nadal, who was 24 at the time.

Stay tuned for more news………….