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Update as at 16h30 SAST
Pravin Gordhan Accepts Solidarity's Offer to Assist With Eskom Critical Skills
Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan has accepted the offer from union Solidarity – an offer made 10 years ago – to assist Eskom with a list of people with critical skills needed by Eskom to keep the lights on in the country. Solidarity at the time offered to whittle down its list of 1,000, to 100 people who could assist the ailing utility, News24 reports. The minister informed Solidarity Managing Director Dirk Hermann, that Eskom required power station engineers – including mechanical, nuclear, electrical, system and maintenance skills, as well as senior artisans and plant operators for coal and nuclear power stations.
Wayde Van Niekerk Through to 400m Final at World Champs, Semenya Not So Lucky
Wayde Van Niekerk has qualified for the 400m final In Eugene, Oregon after being the fastest athletic in the first 200m of all three of the 400m semi-finals IOL reports. In the last semi-final race, the 30-year-old world champion was pipped to the post by American athlete Champion Allison in a time of 44.71. South Africans will be thrilled to see Van Niekerk on the comeback trail after he crashed out of the semi-finals at the Tokyo Olympics. Caster Semenya meanwhile failed to qualify for the 5,000m event. The athlete chose to run in a race she does not prefer because she declined to submit to rules by athletics governing body World Athletics (formerly IAAF), demanding that she take hormone-reducing treatments, to run in her favoured 800m event. Semenya has challenged the decision to prescribe hormone-suppressing drugs for any woman with disorder of sex development (DSD), preventing them from competing in 400m to 1,500m events.
Even Tougher Times Ahead With Highest Interest Rate Hike In Nearly 20 Years
The Reserve Bank's Monetary Policy Committee has announced a hike of 75 basis points today. This brings the repo to 5.5% and the prime rate to 9%, News24 reports. The decision is largely based on happenings globally, including the volatile oil price and the continuing war between Russia and Ukraine which has impacted among others, the cost of foodstuffs, wheat and cooking oil. According to Trading Economics, South Africa has seen an inflation rate hike of 7.4% in June – a huge jump from 6.5% in May this year, which has also influenced the MPC's decision.
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