Top 10 stories of the day: Water | Load shedding | Zuma | Spaza shops

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Top 10 stories of the day

Jhb’s triple trouble: heatwave, load shedding, and water outage

Thousands of households faced a heatwave and load shedding as they endured the water outage this weekend due to Hector Norris Pump Station maintenance.

Johannesburg Water announced last week that planned maintenance on the Hector Norris Pump Station would occur from Friday, 31 January, in the evening until Monday, 3 February, leaving residents dry.

The outage placed tremendous pressure on several communities, including Amalgam, the Johannesburg CBD, Mayfair, Turfontein, and Yeoville.

Nearly one hundred areas have been affected by the three-day water outage.

Zuma promised Hani’s killers he would pardon them but didn’t follow through – report.

Former president Jacob Zuma allegedly promised Chris Hani’s killers – Clive Derby-Lewis and Janusz Waluś – that he would give them a presidential pardon.

This is the claim of Liesl Göttert, who helped Zuma with public relations and made a documentary about him.

Speaking to City Press, Göttert said she was in the room when the former president and current MK party leader met Derby-Lewis at the C-Max prison in Pretoria in 2004.

This comes after Waluś revealed, during an interview with eNCA’s Annika Larson last week, that Zuma met Derby-Lewis.

Eskom fixes units, lifts blackouts – but power struggle continues

Eskom said five of its coal-fired generation units have been successfully repaired. Its reserves have been returned to service, allowing it to suspend load shedding.

The parastatal announced on Friday that it will implement stage 3 load shedding from 5 pm on Friday until Sunday at midnight to replenish the power reserves due to failures at two of its best-performing power stations, Matimba and Lethabo.

The country experienced load shedding for the first time in more than 10 months.

Load shedding was expected to last until Sunday at midnight. However, Eskom spokesperson Daphne Mokwena said the rolling blackouts would be suspended after the utility sufficiently replenished its emergency reserves. 

Gauteng shuts down 296 non-compliant spaza shops.

Gauteng authorities have shut down 296 non-compliant spaza shops and food-handling facilities as part of the provincial government’s crackdown on illegal and unsafe businesses.

During a media briefing on Sunday, MEC for Finance and Economic Development Lebogang Maile, said compliance continues to be a serious challenge across all municipalities.

The closures come after a directive from President Cyril Ramaphosa in November 2024 that all spaza shops and food-handling businesses be registered within 21 days. The deadline was later extended to 28 February 2025.

Since then, inspections have revealed widespread non-compliance across Gauteng.

Heatwave eases, but storms and fire risks lurk ahead

After a hot start to the weekend with persistently high temperatures in several areas, residents can sigh in relief as the heatwave conditions ease.

In some areas, the mercury soared to over 37°C as people stayed out of the sun and drank copious amounts of water to stay hydrated during the heatwave.

Load shedding over the weekend exacerbated the heatwave, with many chilling out in pools to keep cool and bring relief from the scorching heat. Load shedding has since been suspended.

While the heatwave dissipates, bringing much-needed cooler weather, the South African Weather Service (Saws) issued a yellow level 2 warning for five provinces.

Here are five more stories of the day:

• Fire trucks sit dormant in depots as municipalities complain about shortage
• PODCAST: GWM Haval H6 and P500 lead brand’s Mzansi charge
• Fake it or make it? The moon landing gets a Hollywood twist
• Zipping through traffic: Uber Moto is the new ride in Jo’burg
• Huawei with AI Best Expression opens eyes and makes you smile

Yesterday’s News recap

READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: SANDF soldier dies | Zuma-Sambudla vows to fight | Petrol price