News 08:00

BULLETIN 21 July 8 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# OUTA is calling for a standardised pay scale for state-owned enterprise executives
# Eskom is planning to return over three-thousand megawatts to service
# And the World Food Programme condemns the killing of civilians seeking humanitarian aid in Gaza

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse has expressed concern at the lack of transparency over the salaries of executives of state-owned entities, when juxtaposed with poor service delivery, bailouts, and underperformance. The Road Traffic Management CEO, Makhosini Msibi, who is currently on precautionary suspension due to allegations of financial misconduct, reportedly received 10.15-million-rand in total remuneration for the 2023/2024 financial year. Eskom CEO Dan Marokane reportedly earns 6.9-million-rand annually, and Transnet CEO Michelle Phillips 8.5-million-rand. OUTA says the government must implement a standardised pay scale.  

# Eskom says in a bid to further strengthen grid stability, it is planning to return a total of three-thousand-330-megawatts of generation capacity to service ahead of this evening peak, and throughout the coming week. Between 1st April and 17 July, the Unplanned Capability Loss Factor, which indicates the percentage of generation capacity lost due to unexpected outages, stood at 29.53-percent. Eskom’s spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena, says for the financial year-to-date, planned maintenance has averaged at five-thousand-229-megawatts:

# Western Cape police are offering a 50-thousand-rand reward to anyone with information that can lead to the arrest of a gunman who allegedly entered a Cape Town school, looking for the child of a police officer. The unidentified man allegedly entered a school in Bellville while armed. Police spokesperson, Joseph Swartbooi, says the man allegedly approached an aftercare teacher and asked about the whereabouts of the child:

# The World Food Programme has condemned violence against civilians seeking aid as completely unacceptable. The Israeli military killed at least 67 people waiting for United Nations aid trucks in northern Gaza on Sunday. The WFP says this violent incident comes despite assurances from Israeli authorities that humanitarian operational conditions would improve, including that armed forces will not be present or engage along humanitarian convoy routes. It adds that it continues to call for the protection of all civilians and aid workers delivering life-saving assistance.

# Golf: World number one Scottie Scheffler won the 153rd Open Championship at Royal Portrush in Northern Ireland, to claim his fourth major title. The American won by four shots after a final-round 68 to finish on 17-under-par. His compatriot Harris English finished second on 13-under-par, with Chris Gotterup a shot further back in third. Rory McIlroy’s bid for a historic victory on home soil ended in a share of seventh. Scheffler says he played well throughout the tournament:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-71-cents and the euro at 20-rand-58-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-75-cents and Bitcoin trades at 118-thousand-512-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-354-dollars-88-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-70-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….