Cape Town — Eskom Load Shedding Reduced, CEO De Ruyter Resigns
Eskom has downgraded power cuts to Stage 4 until Sunday morning. It's hoped it will then be downgraded even further to Stage 3. The utility said that generating units at Grootvlei, Camden, Kriel, and Majuba have been returned to service. The system remains constrained because the utility is still working on five units at various power stations, EyeWitness News reports. Meanwhile, Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter resigned yesterday but has agreed to stay on beyond the 30-day notice period to ensure continuity.
Western Cape Crops Suffer Damage After Heavy Rainfall
This week's heavy rainfall has been welcomed by some Western Cape farmers but others have been hit hard by the inclement weather, eNCA reports. Agri Western Cape CEO Jannie Strydom said between 20 and 110 millimetres were reported across the province on December 13.
Is It Time for Gwede Mantashe to Go?
Gwede Mantashe remaining at the helm of the African National Congress (ANC) as national chairperson is in doubt as activists and party members are calling for his head. At 67 years of age, Mantashe says he is not yet ready to leave politics despite some in the ANC are calling for a changing of the guard. Mantashe is also the minerals and energy minister. He is one of three leaders who have made the ballot ahead of the ANC's 55th national conference, but is trailing behind Limpopo's Stan Mathabatha, EyeWitness News reports.
Minister Dlamini-Zuma Faces Disciplinary Action Over Phala Phala Vote
The ANC has issued a letter to co-operative governance and traditional affairs minister Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma indicating she faces disciplinary action over her defiance by not rejecting the section 89 report, which probed the multi-million rand robbery at President Cyril Ramaphosa's Phala Phala farm in Limpopo in 2020, TimesLive reports. Dlamini-Zuma was the first ANC MP to act counter to the party's instruction that its 230 lawmakers reject the report. The party's letter read: "According to the report, you voted ... contrary to the position of the (national executive committee) and the ANC caucus for the adoption of the report ... Furthermore, [the party's constitution] provides that any member, office bearer or public representative who fails, refuses and/or neglects to abide by the provisions of the constitution of the ANC, its standing orders, rules, regulations, resolutions and policies adopted or made in terms of the constitution shall be liable to be disciplined in terms of this constitution.”
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Lesotho Parliament to Discusses Motion of Reclaiming Parts of South Africa
According to News24, the Parliament of the Kingdom of Lesotho's National Assembly will deliberate over a motion to reclaim parts of South Africa. The "reclamation of Lesotho territory" will be discussed after the Christmas holidays with territories targeted to be annexed being the whole of the Free State, parts of the Northern Cape, parts of the Eastern Cape, parts of Mpumalanga and parts of KwaZulu-Natal.
