For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: Eskom warns of Stage 2 load-shedding at peak hours this week; Ramaphosa says teachers, principals want school assistant programme to continue; And, judge wants witnesses protected, shielded from 'scrutiny' in Zandile Gumede case

Eskom warns of Stage 2 load-shedding at peak hours this week

After three days without load shedding, Eskom warned that Stage 2 load-shedding might be implemented at short notice from 4pm to midnight over the course of the week. 

This is due to power station breakdowns and delays in returning some generating units to service.

The breakdown of two generation units at Arnot, one each at Camden and Lethabo power stations during the past 24 hours and the delay in returning a generating unit to service each at Kendal, Komati and two units at Tutuka power stations have put a severe strain on the power generation system.

Over the weekend, Eskom returned to service two generating units at Kendal Power Station and a unit each at Hendrina, Kusile and Tutuka power stations.

Some 4 872MW in power output is out due to planned maintenance, while another 13 983MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns.

Ramaphosa says teachers, principals want school assistant programme to continue

Over 95% of about 60 000 surveyed teachers and principals say the school assistant programme has vastly improved learning and they want it to continue.

This was according to President Cyril Ramaphosa in his weekly letter to the nation, where he said teachers and principals noted that the programme had allowed them more time to focus on teaching. 

The programme is part of the Presidential Employment Stimulus, the largest youth employment intervention in the country’s history, which has reached close to a million participants. 

Ramaphosa said the second cohort of 245 000 young people will finish their ten-month placement as school assistants. They will join the ranks of about 600 000 young South Africans that have participated in the initiative since its launch in 2020. 

The school assistants have either supported teachers in the classroom or performed school maintenance, security, food garden production and other upkeep activities.

And, judge wants witnesses protected, shielded from 'scrutiny' in Zandile Gumede case

The KwaZulu-Natal High Court in Durban briefly adjourned today to thrash out issues surrounding the media, cameras being allowed in court, and the protection of witnesses in the Zandile Gumede corruption matter.

Judge Sharmaine Balton first heard from Andrea Gabriel, who was representing the State's interests in the media application.

Balton made it clear from the onset that she wanted to protect key witnesses in the case.

Gabriel said they wanted one camera in the courtroom for the reading of the charges that was scheduled to take place this week.

She indicated that there would be supplementary papers filed regarding the media application.

The reading of charges has been delayed for some time now, with a slew of postponements arising from many of the accused struggling to pay for some of Durban's most expensive criminal lawyers.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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