Daily news update: Medupi plant unit explodes and Zuma seeks postponement

Click on the links below for the full story or visit our home page for the latest news.

UPDATE: Zuma’s legal team to apply for postponement

The Jacob Zuma Foundation on Monday dropped another bombshell, this time alluding to a possible postponement of this week’s court proceedings involving the former president’s arms deal corruption trial. 

On Monday morning, the Foundation said it confirmed with the Department of Correctional Services that Zuma, who was admitted to hospital earlier this week for medical observation, was still in hospital. 

Another setback for Medupi plant after unit explodes

Just one week ago, power utility Eskom declared in a media statement that the contentious Medupi coal-fired power plant in Limpopo had finally reached commercial operation status. 

This after 14 years of pairs and billions of rands.

The plan was for the plant to be handed over to the generation division, after which it would pump 4,764MW of electricity into the country’s embattled power grid. 

Women’s Day: A GBV-free SA can be realised in our lifetime, says Ramaphosa

During President Cyril Ramaphosa’s 2021 Women’s Day address, he provided a much-anticipated update to the country’s National Strategic Plan to combat the scourge of gender-based violence (GBV), and called on the private sector to ramp up financial inclusivity. 

The plan, launched last year, has, according to Ramaphosa, made some progress towards realising a GBV-free South Africa in our lifetime.

Female cop in hiding after estranged spouse allegedly sets their home ablaze

A Johannesburg-based police officer spent Women’s Day hiding from her estranged spouse. She spoke to The Citizen on the condition of anonymity.

Joy Ndlovu*, whose mandate is to serve and protect South African citizens, lives in fear of being discovered by her abusive ex-husband. After a decade of marriage and three children later, the couple’s break-up was fraught with increasingly violent episodes of domestic abuse and bitter divorce proceedings that finally reached a climax last May.

World locked into 1.5°C temperature increase by 2030 – report

We ignored the warnings, and now it’s too late: global heating has arrived with a vengeance and will see Earth’s average temperature reach 1.5 degrees Celsius above preindustrial levels around 2030, a decade earlier than projected only three years ago, according to a landmark UN assessment published on Monday. 

Does ‘The Braai Show with AKA’ have a new host?

Popular talk show ‘The Braai Show with AKA’, which aired 13 episodes on SABC 1 last year, has allegedly handed the reigns to rapper Casper Nyovest for its second season. 

The rumoured news broke on Monday morning, with entertainment reporter Phil Mphela tweeting a press statement issued by an unnamed PR company on behalf of the former presenter and co-owner of the show, Kiernan Forbes.