News 07:00

BULLETIN 24 February 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Load-shedding is reduced to stage four
# The DA criticises South Africa’s over-reliance on Eskom
# And, South Africa SA is making progress towards exiting the grey list

# Load-shedding has been reduced to stage four until further notice. This follows the successful recovery of all five units at Majuba, two at Camden, and one at Medupi since Saturday. In total, eight out of ten generation units that had tripped at the weekend have returned to service. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says emergency reserves replenishment is also progressing well:

Meanwhile, the DA says South Africa cannot rely on Eskom as its primary electricity source. This comes as the power utility implemented stage six load-shedding on Sunday morning as a result of multiple unit trips and maintenance. The DA’s, Kevin Mileham, says the over-reliance on Eskom to maintain and build new generation capacity has led to the creation of a monopoly of supply, and what is essentially a single point of failure:

# National Treasury says it has addressed 20 out of the 22 action items outlined in the action plan, to remove South Africa from the Financial Action Task Force grey list. The country was grey listed in February 2023, for not complying with international standards that relate to money laundering and addressing illicit financial flows. Treasury says the two remaining items are expected to be addressed in the reporting period from March to June, which would enable the country to be considered for delisting from the grey list in October.

# The new digital Trusted Tour Operator Scheme visa initiative is already bearing fruit, with the first group of visitors from China having arrived in South Africa at the weekend. From the 12th of this month, the first group of approved 65 tour operators from South Africa, India, and China started processing visa applications through the scheme. Ministry of Tourism’s spokesperson, Zara Nicholson, says India and China have been identified as two key source markets for South Africa to grow arrivals:

# Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he is ready to step down if it means peace and NATO membership for his country. Today marks the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Kyiv. Ukrainian legislation bans elections during martial law, which has existed since Moscow’s full-scale invasion in February 2022. Zelenskyy reiterated his desire for security guarantees to put Ukraine in the strongest possible position for future peace talks. 

# Soccer: Sport, Arts, and Culture minister Gayton McKenzie has reaffirmed that the video assistant referee system will be implemented in South Africa by the end of April. Speaking to SABC Sport, McKenzie stressed that the installation will be completed before the end of the Premier League season. He says the VAR technology aims to improve match officiating, reduce referee corruption and restore integrity in South African soccer:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-31-cents and the euro at 19-rand-26-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-22-cents and Bitcoin trades at 95-thousand-971-dollar-20-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-928-dollars-53-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 74-dollars-31-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….