News 06:00

BULLETIN 18 April 6 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Jacob Zuma will today be in the High Court for his private prosecution bid against president Ramaphosa
# Load-shedding remains suspended due to sustained generation capacity
# And Siya Kolisi is included on Time’s list of the 100 most influential people of 2024

# Former President Jacob Zuma will appear at the High Court in Johannesburg in his capacity as the Private Prosecutor in his bid against President Cyril Ramaphosa. The Zuma Foundation states that the purpose of the appearance is to provide an update to the criminal court on the ongoing appeals in the Supreme Court of Appeal regarding the review and setting aside of the summons served on the accused.

# Load-shedding will continue to be suspended until further notice, marking 22 consecutive days without blackouts. The last time Eskom achieved a similar milestone was in June 2022, with 20 consecutive days without load-shedding. The power utility’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says the continued suspension of load-shedding is a result of sustained generation capacity, adequate emergency reserves, and reduced electricity demand from the grid:

# Gauteng Education MEC Matome Chiloane says they are devising a plan to avoid more deaths as a result of drownings at school camps. An independent law firm will be appointed to investigate the deaths of two pupils from Daveyton Skills School in Benoni. The boys drowned at a private camping site near the Hennops River in Centurion during a school excursion on Monday. Chiloane says even though water excursions are fundamental in the curriculum of school-going children, they must be safe:

# Over 50-thousand Russian soldiers have already died since the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. The figure was confirmed by BBC Russian, independent media group Mediazona, and volunteers, who have been counting the casualties. Among the dead are 27-thousand-300 soldiers who lost their lives in the second year of combat. According to reports, Moscow pushed its so-called meat grinder strategy in the past 12 months, referring to the way waves of soldiers were sent forward relentlessly to try and wear down Ukrainian forces.

# Rugby: Former Welsh captain Ken Owens announced his retirement because of a persistent back injury. The veteran hooker played 91 Tests for Wales, five games for the British and Irish Lions, and 274 matches for Scarlets. He was side-lined during last season’s Challenge Cup semifinal against Glasgow Warriors. The 37-year-old Owens underwent an operation in July and later had to withdraw from Wales’ World Cup squad. He says this isn’t the dream ending to his career, but it has been much more than he could’ve dreamt of.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand and the euro at 20-rand-28-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-68-cents and Bitcoin trades at 61-thousand-444-dollars-50-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-369-dollars-5-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-40-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Springbok captain Siya Kolisi was named on Time magazine’s list of the world’s 100 most influential people for 2024. This follows after he led South Africa to back-to-back World Cup victories in France last year. Kolisi’s name appears among the “innovators”, with the magazine describing them as people it believes most changed the stories that defined the past year. The Citizen reports other people on the list are artists Kylie Minogue and Michael J Fox, and sports stars Max Verstappen and Jenni Hermoso.

Stay tuned for more news………….