Author: Larson Thebe
Electricity Minister Dr Kgosientsho Ramokgopa said Eskom has for the past two weeks made significant and positive improvement in the generation capacity. He said this is because of the work by the generation team, which has helped lessen load shedding. Ramokgopa was briefing the media in Pretoria about the country’s Energy Action Plan. “We are not out of the woods, but we are turning the corner. The fact that we can go for a day, whether it’s a weekend or weekday, without load shedding is psychological. It is a major victory.” We had not done that over a period of…
Israel was taken by surprise by the most ambitious operation Hamas has ever launched from Gaza. The scale of what’s been happening is unprecedented. Hamas breached the wire that separates Gaza from Israel in multiple places in the most serious cross-border attack Israel has faced in more than a generation. It came a day after the 50th anniversary of the surprise attack by Egypt and Syria in 1973 that started a major Middle East war. The significance of the date will not have been lost on the Hamas leadership. Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says his country is at war…
The Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) expressed grave concern over the recent escalation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. “The new conflagration has arisen from the continued illegal occupation of Palestine land, continued settlement expansion, desecration of the Al Aqsa Mosque and Christian holy sites, and ongoing oppression of the Palestinian people,” said a statement issued on Saturday. Hamas launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood saying the surprise attack on Israel was in response to the storming of the Al-Aqsa Mosque and increased settler violence. It said it fired rockets and captured many Israelis. In turn, the Israeli army initiated Operation Swords…
Six South African National Defence Force (SANDF) soldiers were killed, and three others injured, when a fire ravaged the training centre in Lohatlha, Northern Cape. The fire started on Friday afternoon and was fanned by a wind speed of 70 kilometres per hour and attempts by the soldiers to contain it failed. It is reported that the fire rolled over from the western border of the mine that is next to the training area in the Combat Training Centre. Elements of the SA Army are currently deployed in the vicinity in preparation for the annual SA Army exercise, Exercise Vukuhlome, and…
The possibility of sanctions following the nation’s failure to update its anti-doping legislation has prompted the South African Institute for Drug Free Sport (Saids) to file an appeal with the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS). The World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) could impose punishments on South Africa including a ban on the country’s national flag at major sporting events. The country would also be prevented from hosting, or bidding to host, international competitions, among several other punitive measures. South Africa, along with Bermuda, has been given until 13 October by Wada to comply. The Springboks and the Proteas are currently…
MohBad died at a hospital last month in circumstances that were unclear. The 27-year-old’s death led to an outpouring of grief among his fans, who demanded a thorough investigation. On Friday, police said a nurse who treated Mohbad had allegedly injected him in a negligent way. The nurse is under arrest and has not yet commented. For the first time, the police laid out the chain of events that led to Mohbad’s death in the city of Lagos. On 10 September, Mohbad, real name Ilerioluwa Oladimeji Aloba, injured himself in a “violent fight” with childhood friend Oluwatosin Owoduni, also known…
Trade union federation Cosatu’s march to demand that City of Tshwane employees be paid wage increases turned sour on Friday afternoon because the City manager could not accept a memorandum due to an unruly crowd. Around 1 000 Cosatu and affiliate union members marched to both the National Treasury and Tshwane House on Friday. The union delivered a memorandum to Treasury addressing budget cuts in public spending in light of the country’s rising cost of living. When the protesters got at Tshwane House, they attempted to hand over a memorandum to Tshwane Mayor Cilliers Brink, demanding that employees who had…
Deputy President Paul Mashatile has sought to assure teachers that the country values and cherishes the difference they make in the lives of learners and communities. Mashatile was delivering a keynote address at the 23rd National Teachers Awards, held in Hatfield, Pretoria. The annual awards are held to recognise and honour the nation’s best teachers. “As we gather here today, I want every teacher to know that the nation sees you, values you, and cherishes the difference you make in the lives of your learners and to our communities more broadly. Each one of you, those coming from modernised classrooms,…
World football governing body, FIFA, has announced an unprecedented formular for the 2030 edition of the World Cup, which will see the tournament held across three different continents, Africa, Europe and South America. “The FIFA Council unanimously agreed that the sole candidacy will be the combined bid of Morocco, Portugal, and Spain, which will host the event in 2030 and qualify automatically from the existing slot allocation subject to the completion of a successful bidding process conducted by FIFA and a decision by the FIFA Congress in 2024,” FIFA said in a statement. The opening three matches will however take…
On 9 October, the Pretoria High Court will resume hearing the murder trial of five men accused of killing former soccer star, Senzo Meyiwa. This comes after the state prosecutor Advocate George Baloyi tried to introduce the next state witness, a cellphone expert. Baloyi informed the court that the witness was going to testify about smartphone downloads from accused number two, Bongani Ntanzi, and accused number five, Fisokuhle Ntuli. However, the defense objected, claiming that they needed more time to look at the witness evidence and speak with their clients. “My Lord you’ll recall that by the time when we…