For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.

Making headlines: Unemployment ticks up to 32.6% in first quarter, Stage 2 load-shedding to resume from 4pm and, Macron says stable Mali, not only French troops, can fight terrorism

Unemployment ticks up to 32.6% in first quarter

Statistics South Africa has reported that the unemployment rate in South Africa has increased to 32.6% in the first quarter of the year. 

This compares with an unemployment rate of 32.5% in the December quarter.

The results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey for the first quarter show that the number of employed persons remained almost unchanged at 15-million, recording a slight decrease of 28 000.

The unemployment rate of 32.6% is now at the highest since the inception of the labour force survey in 2008.

Stage 2 load-shedding to resume from 4pm

State-owned power utility Eskom will again be implementing Stage 2 load-shedding from 4pm today to 5am tomorrow.

This is owing to further breakdowns of generating units at the Kriel, Arnot, Majuba and Tutuka power stations over the past 24 hours, as well as delays in returning units to service at the Duvha and Tutuka power stations.

Eskom says this bout of load-shedding will also assist in replenishing the emergency generation reserves, which have been used extensively over the past three weeks to avoid load-shedding during the day.

Macron says stable Mali, not only French troops, can fight terrorism

French President Emmanuel Macron has said that French troops on their own cannot fight terrorism in Africa's Sahel region, adding that stable political institutions in Mali also have a role to play.

Macron said France will closely monitor in the coming days Mali's transition back to democracy after its second military coup in nine months.

Macron said the presence of French forces on the ground in Mali is not enough to fight terrorism.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter[PolityZA]