News 13:00

BULLETIN 16 August 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The Trump administration reportedly wants more white-Afrikaner refugees
# Eskom says it has been able to meet the winter electricity demand effectively
# And Mixed Martial Arts: Dricus du Plessis will face his toughest challenge in Chicago tomorrow

# US president Donald Trump’s administration is reportedly discussing a refugee admissions cap of about 40-thousand for the coming year. Some 30-thousand spaces will be allocated to white Afrikaner South Africans. Trump has maintained that Afrikaners have suffered racial discrimination and violence in South Africa. The first group of 59 South Africans arrived in America in May, but only 34 more had come as of early August. White House deputy press secretary Anna Kelly says refugee admission caps will be determined next month, and any numbers discussed at this point are pure speculation.

# Eskom says the power system continues to operate reliably, enabling it to meet winter electricity demand effectively. Electricity demand has been met over 97-percent of the time during the winter season and the financial year to date. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says when system constraints do arise, they are managed through the targeted use of emergency reserves during morning and evening peak periods:

# The South African Federation of Trade Unions says the Marikana massacre was not a tragic accident, but a premeditated act of state violence in defence of capital. Today marks 13 years since police gunned down 34 striking mineworkers in Marikana, North West. Ten more people, including police and security officers, were killed in the weeks leading up to the massacre. Saftu’s Asive Dyani says all these years later, there has been no accountability:

# City Power says it has decided to halt the restoration of power supply in certain areas. This is until it can verify that at least 80-percent of customers in a specific area are purchasing electricity legitimately. City Power’s spokesperson, Isaac Mangena, says this decision will help address rampant illegal connections and meter tampering. He adds that customers who are illegally purchasing vouchers are also heavily impacting the utility’s revenue:

# The Western Cape province has downscaled economic growth targets amid 30-percent US tariffs. Agriculture, Economic Development and Tourism MEC, Ivan Meyer, seeks to reduce the province’s GDP growth ambitions from five-percent to three-percent annually by 2035. The province’s one-trillion-rand Growth for Jobs target is now revised to 700- to 800-billion-rand. The MEC emphasised prioritising job creation, energy security, infrastructure development, and investment attraction. In addition, he aims to create 600-thousand jobs and boost exports, research, and venture capital over the next decade.

# And Mixed Martial Arts: South Africa’s UFC middleweight world champion, Dricus du Plessis, faces arguably the toughest challenge of his career in tomorrow’s fight against Russia’s Khamzat Chimaev in Chicago, in the US. This will be Stillknocks’ third title defence after earlier beating Nigerian-born New Zealander and American Sean Strickland. The South African has a 23-2 win-loss professional record, while the Russian has won all 14 of his professional fights. UFC 319 starts at 4 am tomorrow, with the fight between Du Plessis and Chimaev the main event.

Stay tuned for more news………….