News 06:00

BULLETIN 6 May 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Jacob Zuma’s ANC disciplinary hearing is postponed over security concerns
# Load-shedding remains suspended due to sustained improvements in generation performance
# And rugby: The Blitzboks finish in a disappointing sixth place in Singapore

# ANC secretary-general Fikile Mbalula says the party’s national disciplinary committee has been advised to postpone suspended member Jacob Zuma’s hearing until after the general election. The former president faces two counts of contravening the ANC constitution due to his involvement with the newly formed MK Party. Mbalula says the ruling party identified security concerns in holding Zuma’s disciplinary hearing tomorrow:

# Eskom says load-shedding will remain suspended, with today marking the 40th consecutive day without blackouts. This is due to significant improvements in curbing unplanned outages and the reliability of the generation fleet. A total of two-thousand-600 megawatts is expected to be returned to service by today. The power utility’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the energy availability factor has been above 60-percent since the 29th of last month and reached the 65-percent mark at the start of this month:

Meanwhile, the utility has disclosed it has lost 203-billion-rand to corruption since 2018. Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan attributed it to negligence in maintenance, governance, and illicit dealings. In a recent parliamentary response, Gordhan highlighted efforts to combat corruption post-State Capture Commission revelations. Notably, 5.2-billion-rand has been recovered so far. This excludes amounts from ongoing investigations and litigation against entities involved, including SAP, ABB South Africa, Deloitte, McKinsey, and Trillian.

# Rand Water has taken drastic action, reducing water supply to Merafong, Ngwathe, and Victor Khanye municipalities in Gauteng, Free State and Mpumalanga due to outstanding debts. The owed amounts, totalling over a billion-rand, have left the water utility struggling since 2019. With significant arrears endangering service provision, Rand Water has reduced supply by 20-percent, highlighting the critical impact of non-payment on water services’ operational integrity and institutional functionality.

# Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet voted unanimously to close the operations of the Al Jazeera television network in the country, for as long as the war in Gaza continues. Police raided the Qatari broadcaster’s office and confiscated equipment at the Ambassador Hotel in Jerusalem yesterday. The Israeli government claims the network is a threat to national security and a mouthpiece for Hamas. Al Jazeera condemned the cabinet’s decision as a criminal act, which infringed on the human right to access information.

# Rugby: Blitzboks finished sixth in the Singapore Sevens series tournament. They squandered a ten-nil half-time lead to suffer a 14-10 defeat to Argentina in the fifth-place play-off. New Zealand edged Ireland 17-14 to clinch the Singapore title. Springbok Sevens coach Philip Snyman says they have a lot to improve on including decision-making, converting opportunities into points, and not veering from the game plan:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-51-cents and the euro at 19-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-24-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-327-dollars-91-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-306-dollars-49-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-22-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….