News 07:00

BULLETIN 17 August 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Minister Ramokgopa says the ANC reaffirms its commitment to Just Energy Transition
# Another suspect is arrested in connection with the Reiger Park murders
# And several countries condemn Israel’s decision to reject the Gaza peace plan

# Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, has clarified that the proposed independent Transmission System Operator will remain state-owned. He was part of an ANC briefing yesterday, as the party continues its 2021 Local Government Elections Manifesto Review, focusing on housing, water and energy. The TSO will be separate from Eskom and will assume ownership and control of transmission assets, operate the electricity market, and enable transmission investment at scale. Ramokgopa says the ANC reaffirms its commitment to Just Energy Transition and expanding the grid:

# The South African Federation of Trade Unions says more than three decades after apartheid, enormous sections of South Africa’s mineral wealth remain controlled according to the logic of private accumulation. Saftu’s Asive Dyani says mining communities frequently remain poor while wealth extracted from beneath their feet flows to corporations, shareholders and financial markets. She says South Africa cannot remain an economy that digs minerals from the ground, exports them in raw or insufficiently beneficiated form and then imports manufactured goods at enormous cost:

# A second suspect has been arrested in connection with the killing of two Anti-Gang Unit officers and two women in Reiger Park, Ekurhuleni, last week. The 24-year-old male suspect was apprehended on Sunday afternoon in Reiger Park following an intensive tracing operation by the multidisciplinary team. He will appear in court this week. Last week, 23-year-old Reagan Collis appeared in the Boksburg Magistrate’s Court on four counts of murder. He remains in custody, with his formal bail application scheduled for 25 August.

# The Western Cape police have condemned the murder of a 37-year-old off-duty police officer in Nyanga, Cape Town on Saturday night. Police spokesperson, Novela Potelwa, says police on patrol responded to gunshots heard in the area when they saw a crowd gathered in Hani Street. She says upon arrival at the scene they discovered a male lying in the road with gunshot wounds to his upper body:

# The foreign ministers of the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt have condemned Israel’s rejection of a 15-point document put forward by US president Donald Trump’s Board of Peace. Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the proposed plan, stating that the military will not withdraw from Gaza until Hamas is genuinely disarmed. In a joint statement, the foreign minister accused Israel of undermining efforts to fully end the war with Hamas in Gaza, and derailing Trump’s push to cement conditions necessary for long-lasting peace.

# Cricket: Australian captain Pat Cummins has backed his team’s ability to bounce back from their shock nine-wicket defeat to Bangladesh in the first Test in Darwin. This was Bangladesh’s first win on Australian soil and just their second Test victory over the world’s top-ranked side. Cummins’ decision to bat first has come under scrutiny as conditions eased later during the opening day. He admitted that they were outplayed in all facets of the game and refused to rule out making changes for the second Test, which starts on Saturday in Mackay.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-17-cents and the euro at 18-rand-72-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-91-cents and Bitcoin trades at 63-thousand-41-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-407-dollars-13-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 90-dollars-60-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….