Daily podcast – May 26, 2015

26th May 2015 By: Creamer Media Reporter

Daily podcast – May 26, 2015

Unrest in Burundi
Photo by: Reuters

May 26, 2015.
For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines:

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union opposes the introduction of Chinese language at school.

The US condemns the killings in Burundi and calls for a peaceful end to the crisis.

And, Eskom says there is a low risk of load shedding today.

The South African Democratic Teachers’ Union (or Sadtu) says the introduction of Mandarin into the South African school curriculum is a form of colonisation.

While the union welcomed the announcement on the expansion of a programme to introduce African languages in schools across all provinces that don’t currently offer African languages, it was disappointed with the pronouncement on the introduction of Mandarin as a subject when schools were slow in the development of indigenous languages.

The union said the Department did not consult the stakeholders on the introduction of Mandarin and viewed this as “a form of colonisation by China in exchange for electronic gadgets for schools.”

Sadtu’s leadership said it intends to meet with the Council of Traditional Leaders and Pan South African Language Board “with the hope of getting some guidance on how to respond to this situation”.


The US government has condemned the recent killings of an opposition party leader in Burundi and at least 20 others. It urged all the parties to renounce violence and continue to work toward a peaceful resolution of the crisis.

Marie Harf, deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, urged the Burundian government to investigate the recent attacks, and to take concrete steps to ensure the safety of political leaders during the electoral process.

Meanwhile, Burundi's opposition boycotted peace talks with the government in protest at the killing of Zedi Feruzi, the leader of the opposition UPD party, and his bodyguard.

Rights groups say at least 20 people have died since protests broke out on April 26, a day after President Pierre Nkurunziza announced he would seek a third five-year term.


Eskom said on Tuesday there was a low risk of load shedding as the power system was relatively stable.

"Some of the generating units that experienced technical faults on Monday were now back on stream, helping to stabilise the power system," the power utility said in a tweet.

Eskom apologised for Monday evening's load shedding that was caused by technical faults on some of its power generating units.

It was caused by technical faults on some of the utility’s power generation fleet, resulting in a shortage of about 1 000 MW.


Also making headlines:

Campaigners say the poorest nations, and not just the richest ones, must act to end extreme poverty.

Zimbabweans go hungry as a drought hammers southern Africa.

Clive Derby-Lewis tendered an apology through his lawyer to Limpho Hani, widow of South African Communist Party leader Chris Hani, in his application to the High Court in Pretoria for medical parole for Hani's murder.

And, advisory firm KPMG says local government collaboration must be enforced.

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That’s a roundup of news making headlines today.