Daily Podcast - January 11, 2017

11th January 2017 By: Thabi Shomolekae - Creamer Media Senior Writer

Daily Podcast - January 11, 2017

Photo by: Duane Daws

January,11 2017.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines:
Nersa gets new boss
Gambia's top court adjourns Jammeh's poll challenge
And, surprise move to make Eskom nuke procurer ‘unlawful

 

Christopher Forlee will take over the helm as CEO of the National Energy Regulator of South Africa.

Nersa announced on monday that Minister of Energy Tina Joemat-Pettersson made the appointment for a period of five years, effective from 1 January 2017. He will also be a full-time regulator member of Nersa.

Forlee, who is an electrical engineer, was responsible for regulation of the petroleum pipelines industry within Nersa.

 

African judges due to help Gambia's supreme court hear a challenge by President Yahya Jammeh's electoral defeat last December failed to show up yesterday, forcing the chief justice to adjourn the session.

Chief Justice Emmanuel Fagbenle delayed the hearing until January 16, meaning the court will hear the challenge filed by Jammeh's ruling APRC party only two days before the end of the long-ruling president's mandate.

The presidents of Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Liberia will visit Jammeh today in a second attempt to press him to hand over power.

 

The environmentalist groups taking the Department of Energy to court over the nuclear procurement programme claim its decision in late 2016 to make Eskom the nuclear energy procurer was unlawful.

This view is contained in an answering affidavit filed by Earthlife SA and the Southern African Faith Communities’ Environment Institute on Monday.

It forms part of the Western Cape High Court case preparation for the nuclear energy court hearing, which has been postponed to 22 February. It is also in response to Energy Minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson’s responding affidavit signed on December 22, 2016.

The minister had been ordered by the court on 13 December to provide it with documents that outline the events that led to the decision to move the role of procurer from the DoE to Eskom.


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