News 17:00
BULLETIN 27 November 5 pm
Good afternoon. I am……..
In this bulletin:
# It is stage 4 load-shedding till Saturday
# A South African-born woman is released from Gaza
# And Rugby: Jake White is happy to have Willie le Roux at Loftus
# The week has not started well for Eskom and South Africans. The utility announced stage 4 load-shedding was implemented this afternoon due to the increasing demand, combined with insufficient generating capacity and the need to manage the emergency reserves. This will last till early Saturday morning. Unplanned outages increased to 15-thousand-424 megawatts, while the capacity out of service for planned maintenance increased to six-thousand-280 megawatts.
# A woman born in South Africa, is among the hostages freed from Gaza this weekend. Aviva Siegel, who has duel South African/Israeli citizenship, and her American husband, Keith, were taken by Hamas along with other hostages early in October. Keith is still in Gaza. Sixty-four-year-old Aviva emigrated to Israel with her family when she was eight-years-old. She is a teacher at a crèche in the Middle Eastern country, while her husband works for a pharmaceutical company.
# The families of two Western Cape engineers imprisoned in Equatorial Guinea, Frik Potgieter and Peter Huxham, are urging government to ensure their protection and safe return for Christmas. They were arrested at their hotel in Malabo in February on drug-related charges and have spent the next nine months in prison. Potgieter and Huxham are employed by Dutch company SBM Offshore in Equatorial Guinea. Their families stress a swift and safe return depends on robust bilateral engagement between South Africa and the Central African country.
# Rugby: The Bulls are the early pace setters among the South African sides in the United Rugby Championship. After six rounds, the Pretoria-side is third on the log, behind Glasgow Warriors and Leinster. That’s after they beat Connacht 53-27 at Loftus Versveld on Saturday, with Springbok fullback Willie le Roux making his debut for the Bulls. Coach Jake White is very happy to have Le Roux in his side:
# Financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-63-cents and the euro at 20-rand-40-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-53-cents and Bitcoin trades at 36-thousand-910-dollars-30-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-and-15-dollars-76-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-9-cents a barrel.
# And finally: Snake and Venom Education has issued a vital caution as snakes seek refuge from intense heat by entering homes. Mozambique spitting cobras, green mambas, black mambas, Cape cobras, puff adders, and others are on the move. The organization emphasises snakes may be searching for secure hideouts to lay eggs. The hotspots include Durban, KwaZulu-Natal, and Cape Town in the Western Cape. Conservationist Carla Goede told eNCA that the public is strongly advised against interacting with these reptiles:
Stay tuned for more news………….