News 06:00

BULLETIN 22 January 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA leader says South Africans are forced to get used to living without reliable electricity
# Stage 2 load-shedding is implemented indefinitely
# The flood-ravaged districts in KwaZulu-Natal are declared as disaster areas

# DA leader John Steenhuisen says South Africans have been forced to get used to living without reliable electricity and water. Steenhuisen led a picket to dissolve the ANC-EFF-run eThekwini Municipality and formally launch the party’s campaign to rescue KwaZulu-Natal in the 2024 general and provincial elections. He says the ANC has convinced themselves that South Africans will never hold them accountable for everything they have taken away from them:

Meanwhile, Eskom has implemented stage two load-shedding at 5 am this morning, to continue until further notice. The power utility suspended load-shedding late Saturday evening and announced a brief break from outages for most of the day yesterday. Eskom says the suspension of load-shedding was due to lower-than-anticipated demand and a further slight improvement in generation capacity. It adds that it will communicate should any significant changes to the grid occur.

# A 30-year-old woman arrested for allegedly starting the deadly fire that engulfed a building in Commissioner Street in the Johannesburg CBD is expected to appear in the Johannesburg Magistrate’s Court today. Two people died, four were injured and at least 15 were rescued from the two-storey building. Johannesburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda says the alleged owners of the building have failed to provide sufficient evidence to prove that they are the owners:

# Minister of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs Thembi Nkadimeng has declared flood-ravaged districts in KwaZulu-Natal as disaster areas. Districts including Uthugela, eThekwini, and Ugu have been affected by torrential downpours that have claimed 23 lives and severely damaged roads and infrastructure since last month. Nkadimeng says the declaration will enable the provincial government to re-prioritise its budgets to start with repairs as soon as possible. The cost of damage caused by inclement weather is estimated to be around 2.5-billion-rand.

# Russia’s Foreign Ministry has denounced the deadly shelling of a market on the outskirts of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine as a barbaric terrorist attack against civilians. At least 25 people were killed and about 20 injured including two children. Donetsk is one of four Ukrainian regions that Moscow said in 2022 it would recognise as Russian territory, an annexation process that is illegal under international law. The Foreign ministry has accused Ukraine of attacking with the use of weapons supplied by the West.

# Mixed martial arts: South Africa’s first Ultimate Fighter champion, Dricus du Plessis, says he is not ruling out a quick turnaround for a potential title fight with New Zealand’s Israel Adesanya, at the forthcoming UFC 300 centenary event. He defeated the defending champion, American Sean Strickland, in a brutal five-round fight in Toronto, Canada, yesterday to win the UFC middleweight title. Du Plessis says wanting to fight Adesanya is nothing personal:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-1-cent and the euro at 20-rand-73-cents. One British pound costs 24-rand-15-cents and Bitcoin trades at 41-thousand-302-dollars-11-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-30-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 78-dollars-26-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….