Daily news update: Repo rate, Albert Fritz and Medupi’s R2.5bn bill

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Daily news update 28 January

Police open inquiry into sexual assault allegations against Albert Fritz

The South African Police Service (Saps) in the Western Cape have opened an inquiry into sexual assault allegations against suspended Community Safety MEC Albert Fritz.

This was confirmed on Thursday by Brigadier Novela Potelwa, spokesperson of Western Cape Provincial Police Commissioner Lieutenant-General Thembisile Patekile.

According to Potelwa, the inquiry was opened while police wait for “key pertinent documentation” before a case could be registered.

Repo rate increases by another 25 basis points

The repo rate has been increased by another 25 basis points to 4%. This against the backdrop of the increase in headline inflation to well above the mid-point of the inflation target band, with risks to the inflation outlook such as food and fuel prices that have already been realised, and other risks such as currency volatility and capital flow reversals becoming more pronounced.

CoJ committee chairpersons elected despite ANC, EFF disruptions

The Joburg council sitting was marred with disruptions again on Thursday as the ANC and EFF drowned the meeting in song in an attempt to prevent the appointment of Section 79 committee chairpersons.

Speaker Vasco da Gama stuck to his guns, despite threats of legal action from some of the parties.

Representatives of the smaller parties left the chambers, saying they were headed to Hillbrow police station to lay charges against Da Gama.

The opposition parties, led by the ANC and the EFF, complained that Da Gama was presiding over illegal processes in the council.

Eskom not sacrificing maintenance ‘under any circumstances’

Senior Eskom officials were at pains to emphasise news the power utility will not be sacrificing maintenance under any circumstances.

Planned and unplanned outages are expected to impact generation capacity in the future, but Eskom says maintenance has been sacrificed for too long, which has led to the power crisis.

One of the biggest offenders for Unplanned Capability Loss Factors (UCLF) is the Tutuka power station.

Eskom Group Executive Generation Philip Dukashe said the station had to be shut down in December. He said maintenance was supposed to have happened in 2014, but that never happened.

Tshegofatso Pule’s last moments revealed to tearful gallery by killer

Harrowing details around Tshegofatso Pule’s last moments emerged in the Johannesburg High Court on Thursday morning, when the man who shot and killed the expectant mother – allegedly at her boyfriend, Nthutuko Shoba’s behest – was grilled about that fateful night on the stand.

Muzikayise Malephane – who has already pleaded guilty to the murder and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence – told the court how he had picked Pule up from Shoba’s house that evening under the guise of being an Uber driver who would take her home to Meadowlands, Soweto.

He had instead driven her to an open veld in Noordgesig.

Lack of procedure in Medupi explosion racks up R2.5bn bill

The Medupi explosion in August last year was due to non-compliance with procedures. The cost of the damage is said to be R2.5 billion.

This was revealed during Eskom’s first State of the System media briefing, held on Thursday, where CEO André de Ruyter and the utility’s management team discussed the operational performance of the company.

The replacement cost of R2.5 billion is an “unfortunate blow”, de Ruyter said, particularly as it will mean that 720MW is not available while repairs take place.

This will put further constraints on the system, contributing to the likelihood of load shedding.

Eskom says City of Tshwane owes it R635m

Eskom’s struggle to keep the lights on has been exacerbated by a number of indebted municipalities that owe the utility millions. 

The latest municipality to be listed as owing Eskom is the City of Tshwane, which according to a statement is in payment arrears by R635 million. 

A meeting with Tshwane mayor Randall Williams and his leadership team took place earlier this week, where the issue of irregular payment pattern over the past six months were discussed.

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