News 09:00

BULLETIN 7 August 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Eskom wants government to delay the transfer of its assets to a separate transmission company
# Defend Our Democracy urges South Africans to register to vote before midnight
# And in soccer, UEFA says its boycott of FIFA tournaments still stands

# Eskom chairperson Mteto Nyati says government needs to address risks to the power utility’s finances and its lenders before transferring assets to the Independent Transmission System Operator. President Cyril Ramaphosa has endorsed the first phase of recommendations from a task team that reaffirmed the objective of placing the grid under the control of a separate entity. Nyati told Bloomberg the transfer could trigger change-of-control provisions in lending agreements and give rise to accounting complications. He says Eskom favours a model whereby an independent operator would serve as a neutral market coordinator.

# Defend Our Democracy has urged all eligible South Africans to register and verify their voter registration details online before the proclamation of the local government election date today. The combined impact of the two voter registration weekend drives held in June and this month resulted in the IEC interacting with close to 4.7 million voters. The IEC online voter registration portal will close at midnight. Defend Our Democracy’s Wade Manning has highlighted the importance of local government, saying it is the frontline of the country’s democracy:

# Gauteng MEC for Roads and Transport, Kedibone Diale-Tlabela, has called for stronger partnerships between governments, the private sector and transport stakeholders to drive Africa’s next mobility revolution. She addressed the International Association of Public Transport Africa Conference in Sandton, Johannesburg, yesterday. The department’s spokesperson, Lesiba Mpya, says the MEC emphasised that Africa’s rapid urbanisation presented both opportunities and challenges, making efficient, safe and integrated public transport essential for inclusive economic growth:

# A New Mexico court has ordered social media giant Meta to pay 9.3-billion-rand, over its failure to warn the public about the dangers its platforms pose to children. The ruling comes after a March judgement in which Meta, the company behind Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, was found to have misled users about the dangers on its platform. It was ordered to pay 6.1-billion-rand in damages. Meta will appeal, saying it remains confident in its record of protecting teenagers online, and will defend itself against claims that misrepresent the facts.

# Soccer: European governing body UEFA maintains that its intention to boycott FIFA competitions still stands, despite president Gianni Infantino’s apology over his abandoned plans to sell off stakes in the World Cup to private investors. UEFA says member nations were clear about the conditions attached to the non-participation in FIFA competitions. It says that not all conditions have been met. The boycott throws into doubt the participation of European teams in the next FIFA event in September, which is the Under-20 Women’s World Cup in Poland.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-35-cents and the euro at 18-rand-84-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand, and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-209-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-264-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 87-dollars-5-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….