For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines: Ramaphosa calls for unity among ANC branches in Mpumalanga, South Africa's economy grew by 4.6% in 2021 and, Eskom to continue power cuts until Saturday morning

Ramaphosa calls for unity among ANC branches in Mpumalanga

ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa visited Mbombela, in Mpumalanga where he held consecutive meetings with party structures to address the infighting and violence within the province’s branches.

Ramaphosa instructed that the long awaited elective conference, which was first meant to take place in 2018, be convened as soon as possible.

He said the branches wanted a date from him and his response was that the office of the Secretary General will set the date for the conference.

Ramaphosa also urged ANC branches to choose leadership that will unify and take the province forward.

South Africa's economy grew by 4.6% in 2021

South Africa’s gross domestic product for 2021 increased by 4.9% in 2021, compared with a contraction of 6.4% in 2020.

Statistics South Africa statistician-general Risenga Maluleke said the growth was the result of the country moving out of the Covid-19 pandemic environment in 2020.

However, despite growing at a rate of 4.9%, he highlighted that the economy was still sitting at a similar level to that of the third quarter of 2017.

Meanwhile, GDP increased by 1.2% quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter of 2021.

Eskom to continue power cuts until Saturday morning

Power utility Eskom said today it will continue power cuts in the country until 5am on Saturday as many of the power plant units broke down on Monday and are under repair.

Stage 2 load-shedding began at 5pm yesterday.

Almost 2 000 megawatt of power generation capacity is off the grid leading to at least two hours of power cut daily.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
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