Daily podcast – June 12, 2014

12th June 2014 By: Megan van Wyngaardt - Creamer Media Contributing Editor Online

Daily podcast – June 12, 2014

Photo by: Duane Daws

June 12, 2014
From Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I'm Megan van Wyngaardt.
Making headlines:

Power utility Eskom assures there are no planned power cuts for Thursday.

Central African Republic's President Catherine Samba-Panza seeks an International Criminal Court probe.

And a new housing development project is being planned for the Lwandle families.


Eskom assured South Africans there were no power cuts expected on Thursday.

Spokesperson Andrew Etzinger said that while there were no plans to implement load-shedding, should the utility experience troubles like on Wednesday night, it might have to implement load-shedding again.

He said the system was usually stable during the day, with trouble experienced in the early evening.

Deliberate power cuts took place countrywide on Wednesday night after two units at Duvha and Kendal power stations tripped and a portion of the capacity usually imported from Cahora Bassa became unavailable.


Central African Republic's President Catherine Samba-Panza has sent a request to the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into crimes committed during inter-communal violence raging there since mid-2012.

Mostly Muslim rebel group Seleka stands accused of committing abuses against the Christian majority of the poor, former French colony as part of a bid that began two years ago to overthrow the rule of President Francois Bozize.

Christian self-defence militia, known as anti-balaka or anti-machete, sought to counter their attacks but later began committing abuses themselves.

CAR’s Justice Minister said it was imperative that the perpetrators of repeated crimes who continued to circulate freely were arrested and judged, adding that the President's request to ICC top prosecutor was sent on May 30.

Samba-Panza became President in January after Seleka leader Michel Djotodia succumbed to pressure to step down for failing to stop the bloodshed.

A new housing development project is being planned to accommodate evicted Lwandle families and others from surrounding areas.


City of Cape Town mayoral spokesperson Pierrinne Leukes said the city was already in the advanced stage of planning a major new housing project in Macassar.

This development would allow beneficiaries from Solis Town, Greenfields, Polile, Wag 'n Bietjie, Macassar backyarders and families affected by the Sanral evictions to be accommodated.

Some 846 families were evicted from the South African National Roads Agency Limited's land in Lwandle, near Strand, a week ago.

Their shacks were demolished and set alight. Many lost their personal possessions and were left with nothing but the clothes they were wearing.


Also making headlines:

The UN says hard-won security gains in Somalia could be undermined unless the rest of the world steps up support to improve Somalis' lives.

While South Africa’s tourism industry has grown “significantly” over the past 20 years, a recent report by advisory firm Grant Thornton has found that there is “certainly” more room for growth.

And, Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda accused each other's armies of mounting cross-border raids that led to a rare exchange of heavy weapons fire between the two nations on Wednesday.

That’s a roundup of news-making headlines today.