News 11:00

BULLETIN 7 June 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Employment and Labour will continue with compliance inspections to clamp down on contraventions of the Immigration Act 
# Cosatu welcomes Fitch’s decision to upgrade South Africa’s rating to BB
# And tennis: Mirra Andreeva wins her first Grand Slam at the French Open in Paris

# The Department of Employment and Labour says it will continue with compliance inspections to clamp down on contraventions of the Immigration Act and Employment Service Act. Spokesperson, Teboho Thejane says the department is amending the Employment Services Act to legally enforce the National Labour Migration Policy. He says the updated legislation expands sections 8 and 9 to restrict the employment of foreign nationals without valid work permits, legally mandate quotas in specific sectors, and compel employers to prioritize local candidates and skills transfer:

# Cosatu has welcomed Fitch’s decision to upgrade South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency credit ratings to ‘BB’ from ‘BB-’ and maintain the stable outlook. This is the second upgrade by a ratings agency for South Africa in the past month.  Cosatu spokesperson, Matthew Parks says it’s a sign of growing international confidence that South Africa’s efforts to renew itself, fix the state, grow the economy and create jobs are gathering momentum:

# Eskom is sustaining improvements in power system performance as winter demand intensifies, with generation availability improving year-on-year and over 700-thousand households now removed from load reduction. Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena says these gains are driven by stronger plant performance, improved reliability, and targeted network interventions to address localised constraints, enabling more communities to benefit from continuous electricity supply:

# The City of Cape Town offers the most rates relief and benefits for pensioners and indigent households, based on a comparison of the tabled 2026/27 draft budgets for the big five metros. Mayor Geordin Hill-Lewis says pensioners continue to benefit from the country’s widest rebate qualifying criteria, with Cape Town also the only metro offering lifeline electricity to pensioners up to 27-thousand-rand monthly household income. He says in other cities, pensioners must be classified as indigent to qualify:

# Police say they are searching for suspects after at least 12 people were shot near a festival in Toledo, in the midwestern US state of Ohio. Ten people are reported to be in stable condition, while two remain in critical condition. The victims’ ages ranged from 16 to 61. Toledo Deputy Police Chief Joe said it appeared that two people fired weapons and they were “probably shooting at each other”. The festival is a two-day event celebrating one of the largest historic districts in the country with live music, multiple food markets, a beer garden and house tours.

# And tennis: The 19-year-old Mirra Andreeva became the youngest women’s champion at Roland Garros in 34 years with a dominant 6-3, 6-2 victory over Polish qualifier Maja Chwalinska in the final. Andreeva is the first Russian woman to win a major title since Maria Sharapova’s triumph at Roland Garros in 2014. She is also the first player born after 2005, man or woman, to lift a Grand Slam trophy. She made her Roland Garros debut as a 16-year-old in 2023, reaching the third round, before making the semifinals in 2024 and last eight 12 months ago.

Stay tuned for more news………….