For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: Eskom says stage 8 load-shedding is not imminent; DA faces challenge as it seeks to retain ward 9 in Mamusa; And, experts to review economic commission for Africa’s flagship economic report on Africa 2020

Eskom says stage 8 load-shedding is not imminent

Eskom has denied telling municipalities that stage 8 load-shedding is imminent, describing media articles claiming this to be "erroneous and incorrect".

The power utility said that while it has developed contingency plans for severe supply constraints this does not mean that it is planning to implement stage 8 load-shedding, which would see up to 8 000 MW shed from the national grid.

The highest level of power cuts Eskom has yet implemented is stage 6.

The utility said emergency reserves would likely be adequate to supplement a shortfall in generation capacity should the need arise.

DA faces challenge as it seeks to retain ward 9 in Mamusa

The Democratic Alliance in North West has vowed to retain its seat in the Mamusa municipality in a by-election contested by eight political parties and one independent candidate.

Wednesday's by-election will be held after the provincial government dissolved Mamusa council due to a collapse of services.

DA provincial leader Joe McGluwa said that the party would like to win the ward that it currently has, win ward nine and also have one candidate as a proportional representative.

The DA had one seat in the dissolved council, while the African National Congress had 11 and the Forum 4 Service Delivery was the official opposition with three seats. The Economic Freedom Fighters had two seats and Freedom Front Plus had one.

And, experts to review economic commission for Africa’s flagship economic report on Africa 2020

The United Nations' Economic Commission for Africa has scheduled an expert group meeting in Johannesburg later in the week to review the latest edition of its flagship Economic Report on Africa.

The report, entitled, “Innovation for Private Sector Development in Africa”, looks at current knowledge on innovations in finance, including financial technologies and how they can make a breakthrough in financing business sector development.

It provides reference material for policymakers, business sector decision-makers and others on harnessing private sector finance for Africa’s sustainable development and looks at how countries can adopt industrial and investment policy to support digital development.

The ECA said that the overall aim of the report is to articulate how innovative sources of finance can be used to finance Africa’s business sector development, taking into account both potential innovations in the financial services sector and innovations in businesses.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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