News 06:00

BULLETIN 1 February 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Pandor questions what will happen if Israel does not comply with the International Court of Justice’s order
# The Independent Electoral Commission has recorded over 29-thousand voter registrations of South Africans living abroad
# And, Stage 3 load-shedding is implemented until further notice

# International Relations and Cooperation minister, Naledi Pandor, says South Africa remains steadfast in advancing its non-aligned approach to the maintenance of international peace and security. She briefed the media yesterday on the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas following the ruling by the International Court of Justice. The court has ordered Israel to do all it can to stop the harming and killing of Palestinians in Gaza. Pandor says the real question facing nations today is, what happens if Israel does not comply with the order:

# The Independent Electoral Commission reports a surge in out-of-country registrations for South African voters, with numbers reaching 29-thousand-318 following the recent registration weekend. The commission encourages continued registrations through the online process accessible on its website. In his media briefing, Chief Electoral Officer Sy Mamabolo said the expansion of the international voters’ roll reflects the commission’s dedication to ensuring an inclusive democratic representation:

# Eskom says stage three load-shedding is now being implemented until further notice instead of the rotation between stages two and three which was previously communicated. It says this is due to the need to replenish emergency reserves and insufficient available generation capacity. The power utility says it will closely monitor the power system and communicate should any significant changes occur to the grid.

# eThekwini mayor, Mxolisi Kaunda, has narrowly survived a motion of no confidence against him. Of the 209 councillors present at a council meeting in Durban, 109 opposed the motion, two abstained and 98 supported it. The IFP filed the motion in November last year, supported by the DA, citing service delivery issues and damning findings by the auditor-general, among other reasons. Kaunda says his focus remains on delivering services to residents, especially tackling the current water challenges:

# Russia and Ukraine confirmed an exchange of captured soldiers, saying each country got around 200 of their military personnel back. Russia put the total of its returned soldiers at 195, while Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky says 207 of his country’s soldiers and civilians were returned. This was the first swap since a plane crash in Russia in which Moscow says 65 Ukrainian prisoners of war died. Kiev questioned this, while Russian investigators say information from the plane’s flight recorders suggests it was shot down by a missile.  

# Rugby: SA Rugby has appointed Peter Jooste as the new administrator of the Western Province Rugby Football Union. He succeeds Max Fuzani, who has stepped down following his appointment as a special advisor to the minister of Sports, Arts and Culture, Zizi Kodwa. The rugby union has been under administration since October 2021 and has mounting debt, understood to be more than 500-million-rand. SA Rugby president, Mark Alexander, has thanked Jooste for taking on the role to complete the process of the union’s exit from administration.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-67-cents and the euro at 20-rand-19-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 42-thousand-11-dollars-39-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-40-dollars-70-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 80-dollars-84-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….