Morning Brief – Thursday, 6 October 2022

Good morning. Here’s what you need to know today:

• Tourism minister stresses South Africa is a safe place following German national’s killing
• Eskom says load shedding will continue into the weekend but will drop to stage 3
• Unions and Transnet unable to agree on wage increase with strike action looming

German’s murder only the third tourist death in SA in 27 years, country is safe – Sisulu

Tourism minister Lindiwe Sisulu went to great lengths to articulate the safety of South Africa as a tourism destination after a 67-year-old German was murdered earlier in the week while he and others, including his wife, were on their way to the Kruger National Park. In a media briefing held on Wednesday, Sisulu said only three tourists had died in the past 27 years, pointing out the death of Annie Hindocha while on honeymoon in Cape Town in 2010 was a planned hit and another death in Cape Town was an accident. Sisulu confirmed that three people had been taken in for questioning by the police and subsequently arrested in connection with the case. (News24)

Eskom extends load shedding into weekend

Eskom says the long bout of load shedding will continue into the weekend as the power utility is unable to contain further breakdowns. Stage 4 load shedding ended on Thursday morning with the country downgraded to stage 3 power cuts until 5AM on Saturday. Eskom is due to give a further briefing on the situation on Friday afternoon. “We currently have 6 647MW on planned maintenance, while another 14 692MW of capacity is unavailable due to breakdowns,” the utility said in a statement. (EWN)

Unions reject Transnet’s latest wage offer, planned strike still on

A meeting between the United National Transport Union (Untu), the South African Transport and Allied Workers Union (Satawu) and Transnet failed to yield any progress in wage negotiations with both unions demanding a better wage increase or their members will strike on Monday. The strike will see some 80% of Transnet’s workforce down their tools. Transnet said it would increase its offer from 1.5% to 3% effective from April 2022, but unions are demanding between 12% and 13.5%. The logistics utility says it does not have the funds to offer higher increases. (Mail & Guardian)