News 09:00

BULLETIN 3 July 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Eskom continues to strengthen the security of its vending system
# Human Settlements targets 80-thousand deeds and 15-thousand housing units
# And Hamas says a Gaza hospital director was killed in an Israeli strike

# Eskom says it continues to take decisive action following the disclosure in its full-year 2024 financial results of a forensic report detailing the breach of its Online Vending System. Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena says the system was exploited to generate and distribute fraudulent prepaid electricity tokens, revealing critical vulnerabilities in both the physical and cybersecurity components of the utility’s prepaid electricity infrastructure. She says they uncovered weaknesses in physical and cybersecurity components:

# The civic movement Soil of Africa will march to the Home Affairs Department head office in Pretoria today to demand resolution and accountability. Soil of Africa chairperson, Bongani Ramontja, says they are marching to facilitate the blocked identification documents for the affected 75-thousand people living in South Africa without IDs since 2017. He says this has brought families to their knees, denying them access to basic rights and services:

# Human Settlements minister Thembi Simelane says her department aims to register and hand over 80-thousand title deeds and build 15-thousand social housing units. Despite challenges under the National Environmental Management Act regulations and budget constraints, Simelane told Parliament that plans include increasing rental collection to 95-percent, addressing unfinished projects, and eradicating eight-thousand mud houses. She said that the department’s 34-billion-rand budget will focus on housing delivery and climate resilience:

# The director of Gaza’s Indonesian Hospital, along with several family members, was killed in an Israeli air strike on his home in Gaza City. The Hamas-run health ministry said Dr Marwan Sultan had a long career in medicine and condemned his killing. The Israeli military has since said it struck a “key terrorist” from Hamas, with claims that uninvolved civilians were harmed being reviewed. Sultan was the director of the hospital, declared out of service after repeated Israeli attacks and sustained structural damage. According to the UN, there are now no functioning hospitals in northern Gaza.

# Soccer: Banyana Banyana head coach Desiree Ellis believes they are ready to start defending their Women’s Africa Cup of Nations crown against Ghana in Morocco on Monday. South Africa also faces Mali and Tanzania in Group C. Ellis says defending a title is very difficult, but they know it’s possible. She believes it will take everybody to step up like what happened in 2022. Ellis says they’ve been closely tracking the development of key rivals, and is banking on tactical depth and team chemistry.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 17-rand-61-cents and the euro at 20-rand-75-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-99-cents and Bitcoin trades at 108-thousand-923-dollars. Gold sells at three-thousand-351-dollars-59-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-26-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….