News 13:00

BULLETIN 5 August 1 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Soil of Africa proposes a leadership-based democratic system for South Africa
# An energy expert says Eskom’s recovery is a shared success
# And rugby: Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is excited to start his first game of the season for the Boks

# The Soil of Africa civic advocacy movement is calling for a national conversation about the future of South Africa’s democracy and democracy renewal. Spokesperson Luzuko Sofute says democracy remains the best constitutional framework because it protects the rights of citizens, guarantees political participation, and ensures government remains accountable to the people. He says the challenge facing South Africa today is the quality of leadership produced within the current political system:

# Forum for South Africa is encouraged by the positive response from South Africans during the final voter registration weekend, when over 1.7 million registration transactions were recorded. FOSA’s leader, Tebogo Mashilompane, says this demonstrates that many citizens understand the importance of participating in the country’s constitutional democracy. He has however expressed concern about citizens who did not register to vote ahead of November’s local government elections:

# Energy expert Chris Yelland says Eskom deserves credit for improving its performance, but should not take sole responsibility for ending load-shedding. He says reduced electricity demand, increased private investment in renewable energy, and government’s financial support have all contributed to the utility’s recovery. Eskom reported an energy availability factor of 82.04-percent and more than 440 consecutive days without load-shedding.

Moving abroad:

# Qatar’s Foreign Ministry says the recent increase in Israeli strikes in Gaza is nothing more than an attempt to derail the 20-point plan’s implementation and block peaceful solutions. This is against the roadmap floated by US president Donald Trump’s board of peace for Hamas’ disarmament and Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza under a ceasefire agreement. Israel has killed more than 73-thousand people in Gaza since October 2023. Qatar says while Hamas has met its obligations, the international community must pressure Israel to fulfil its obligations.

# Rugby: Springbok flyhalf Sacha Feinberg-Mngomezulu is excited to be back and cannot wait to start his first game of the season. He missed the July Tests after suffering an ankle injury in the Stormers’ United Rugby Championship quarterfinal against Cardiff in May, and had a successful surgery. Feinberg-Mngomezulu, who will earn his 20th Bok cap against Argentina in Buenos Aires on Saturday, says he made the most of his injury lay-off:

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 18-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-6-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-92-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-162-dollars-14-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 83-dollars-55-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….