News 09:00

BULLETIN 11 October 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# At least 18 people are feared dead after an explosion at a US military explosives plant in Tennessee
# OUTA says South Africa needs justice that goes beyond high-profile raids
# And, Eskom says diesel expenditure remained consistently below budget

# At least 18 people are missing and feared dead following an explosion at a munitions factory in rural Tennessee on Friday that obliterated the building and was felt for miles around. The explosion at Accurate Energetic Systems about 100 kilometres west of Nashville caused multiple fatalities, but as of late last night officials had yet to determine a death toll. Humphreys County Sheriff Chris Davis told the media the scene was one of the most devastating situations that he has been on in his career, and that it would take time to determine the cause.

# The Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse says South Africa needs a justice system that delivers more than high-profile raids. They believe recent raids targeting Crime Detection deputy national police commissioner Shadrack Sibiya and president Cyril Ramaphosa’s nephew, businessman Hangwani Maumela, reveal corruption across multiple levels of power, from procurement systems to law enforcement. OUTA CEO Wayne Duvenage says justice must go beyond headlines and asset seizures to restore public trust and protect whistleblowers:

# The University of Fort Hare says it is working on recovery efforts following this week’s devastating arson attacks during students protests. UFH Property and Services Manager, Buhle Shandu says while the total cost of restoration is estimated to be between 300-million-rand and 500-million-rand, the brunt of the destruction goes far beyond infrastructure. Shandu says along with buildings, years of research, institutional knowledge, and irreplaceable memories were lost to the flames. He adds that they estimate it could take up to two years to restore what was lost.

# Eskom says it has spent 5.9-billion-rand on diesel from 1 April to 9 October and generated over one-thousand-gigawatt-hours from its open-cycle gas turbine plants. Eskom spokesperson, Daphne Mokwena says In the past week, diesel spending was 27.74-million-rand at a load factor of 0.758-percent. She says this is lower than the same period last year where spending was 97.4-million-rand, highlighting sustained efficiency improvements and a significant reduction in reliance on diesel generation this year:

# American president Donald Trump has threatened the US will impose an additional 100% tariff on China imports, accusing it of taking an “extraordinarily aggressive position” on trade. In a post to his Truth Social platform yesterday, the US president said Beijing had sent an extremely hostile letter to the world and imposed large-scale export controls on virtually every product they make. Mr Trump, who warned the additional tariffs would start on 1 November, said the US would also impose export controls on all critical software to China.

# Soccer: Italian midfielder Bryan Cristante hopes for a full stadium when his country takes on Israel in a World Cup qualifier in Udine on Tuesday despite a boycott being called earlier. Large groups of protesters were expected in the city, but Cristante says this week’s announced ceasefire agreement between the warring factions in Gaza could perhaps make a difference. Earlier this week, only four-thousand of the available 25-thousand tickets had been sold. Norway currently tops European qualifying group I, followed by Italy and Israel.

Stay tuned for more news………….