News 14:00

BULLETIN 22 April 2 pm

Good afternoon. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# Eskom is to add two-thousand-580 Megawatts power within the next six months
# ActionSA says the National Treasury must urgently blacklist Edwin Sodi and his associated companies
# And tennis: Iga Swiatek celebrates her 100th week as world number one 

# Electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa has announced Eskom’s plan to add two-thousand-580 megawatts of power to the grid in the next six months. The minister says this will be facilitated by the return of units in Koeberg, Medupi, and Kusile. Ramokgopa has acknowledged the private sector for their aggressive rollout of solar power systems, easing the strain on the grid. He also highlights upcoming utility-scale projects:

# ActionSA is deeply concerned that Edwin Sodi and his associated companies, Blackhead Consulting and NJR Projects, have not yet been blacklisted by National Treasury and have not been included on the data base of restricted suppliers. Sodi and his companies are accused of having been at the forefront of maladministration and corruption related to the 295-million-rand tender to refurbish and upgrade the Rooiwal wastewater treatment works in Tshwane. ActionSA’s Alan Beesley says despite being requested by the metro to backlist the companies, Treasury has failed to do so.

# Asian markets rose today, clawing back some of last week’s losses. This comes as Middle East worries subsided and traders looked ahead to the release of key US inflation data and corporate earnings. With Iran downplaying a reported Israeli attack on the country, which came days after an attack on Israel by Tehran, tensions between the regional foes appeared to have cooled. While the situation remains tense, the lack of escalation of hostilities over the weekend provided traders with an opportunity to pick up equities and helped push oil down.

# Tennis: Iga Swiatek from Poland is celebrating a hundred weeks of being world number one today. This put her ninth on the all-time list. But there are a few players knocking on the door, such as Elena Rybakina of Kazakhstan, who beat her in the semifinals of the Stuttgart Open last week. Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus briefly took over as world number one in September last year, while American Coco Gauff is also a serious contender. The WTA tour goes to Spain for the Madrid Open this week.

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 19-rand-8-cents and the euro at 20-rand-33-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-33-cents and Bitcoin trades at 65-thousand-980-dollars-97-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-359-dollars-92-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 86-dollars-68-cents a barrel.

# And finally: Female journalists are increasingly facing online threats while carrying out their work. A joint study between UNESCO and the International Centre for Journalists found that nearly three-quarters of the female journalists surveyed had experienced online violence or abuse. The cyberbullying incidents involve insults, sexist comments, with even physical threats becoming common. This harassment often escalates to physical violence, impacting journalists’ work and media freedom. The centre says the toxic environment is worsened by big tech companies’ failure to address the issue.

Stay tuned for more news………….