Daily news update: Stage 3 load shedding, Richard Mdluli case postponed and KZN floods

Here is your daily news update. Click on the links below for the full story or visit our home page for the latest news.

Daily news update 21 April

Load shedding reduced to stage 3, as Eskom restores six power units

South Africa’s embattled power utility, Eskom, has announced that load shedding will be reduced to Stage 3 at 10:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 20 April 2022.

The country is expected to remain at this stage until Friday as the parastatal works on returning more units to service.

“Having returned to service six generation units over the past 24 hours, and with three more units set to return tomorrow, Eskom is pleased to be able to reduce the implementation of load shedding to Stage 3 starting at 22:00 tonight,” said the power giant in a statement.

Eskom says it will continue to adjust the stage of load shedding depending on the level of breakdowns.

Corruption case against Richard Mdluli and co-accused postponed to May

The fraud and corruption case involving former South African Police Service (Saps) crime intelligence boss, Richard Mdluli, and his two co-accused has been postponed to 11 May 2022.

Mdluli and his co-accused – former Saps supply chain manager Heine Barnard and former chief financial officer of the State Security Agency Solomon Lazarus – on Wednesday made a brief at the Pretoria High Court.

The trio faces charges of corruption, fraud and theft in connection with allegations of gross abuse of the police intelligence slush fund.

Esther Mahlangu’s alleged attacker changes his mind about representing himself

The case against the man accused of assaulting world-renowned Ndebele artist, Esther Mahlangu, on Wednesday was postponed to 26 April 2022.

This after Simon Kgantshi Skosana requested legal representation from Legal Aid South Africa after he had previously said he would represent himself in court.

Skosana appeared before the Mdutjana Magistrate’s Court in Siyabuswa, Mpumalanga, on charges of robbery with aggravating circumstances.

He was charged over the 19 March incident in which Mahlangu was assaulted, strangled and robbed at her home in Mthambothini, near Siyabuswa.

Convicted killer Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu faces fresh charges over plot to murder two cops

Former police officer and convicted serial killer, Nomia Rosemary Ndlovu, was back in court on Wednesday facing new charges of plotting to murder two police officers.

Ndlovu and her co-accused Nomsa Mudau, a former cop who is currently heavily pregnant, made a brief appearance at the Kempton Park Magistrate’s Court on two counts of attempted murder and conspiracy to murder.

The charges relate to an alleged murder plot back in 2018 to murder two police officers, Colonel Nthipe Boloka and Seargeant Benneth Mabunda.

FNB pledges R7.5 million towards relief efforts in KZN following devastation caused by floods

One of South Africa’s big five banks, First National Bank (FNB) announced it will be pledging R7.5 million to help with the severe impact of flooding in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN).

Their contribution to holistic relief efforts assists the vulnerable in rebuilding communities and infrastructure.

“Our holistic relief efforts are a continuation of our ongoing commitment to promoting a culture of care, uniting South African citizens from all walks of life and harnessing the power of collaboration and partnerships,” the statement from the bank read.

ALSO READ: Daily News Update: Songstress Lira suffers stroke in Germany, possible extension of State of Disaster in 3 months due to floods