Good morning, here’s what you need to know today:
Trade unions and Eskom reach a deal on wage negotiations thus ending the wildcat strike, but load shedding persists, the ANC NEC has proposed significant changes to the way Eskom is run, and SAA had yet another dangerous incident a year after its last one.
Wage deal to cost Eskom R1 billion as Public Enterprises slams ‘state of emergency’ reports – The Citizen
Eskom struck a deal to end the wildcat strike at the power utility and signed a new agreement with unions, which gives workers a 7% wage increase. The 7% increase was initially tabled to unions last week Friday.
The agreement kicks in from July 1 and will run for one year, applying to all permanent Eskom employees.
“The overall effect of this agreement on the wage bill will be more than R1 billion over the period of the agreement. This of course will be a struggle for Eskom to afford,” said Eskom in a statement.
Load shedding: NEC proposes significant changes to Eskom operations in bid to address crisis – News24
The ANC’s national executive committee (NEC) will propose significant changes to how government deployees address the day-to-day running of Eskom. The changes have been drafted in an attempt to solve the crisis that has hit the ailing power utility and thrown the country into stage 6 darkness.
The move follows a weekend of meetings where the NEC discussed the proposed changes to address the rolling power outages.
According to party spokesperson Pule Mabe, the NEC has told the government it needs to look at “increasing maintenance and improving the availability of existing supply as well as the acquisition of appropriately skilled employees.” Read more here.
Flight SA9053: Yet another near-fatal incident uncovered at SAA – Daily Maverick
Turning to the aviation sector, SAA is making headlines again for all the wrong reasons. The flag carrier had another serious incident in April, just a year after the alpha floor incident where the autopilot on an Airbus A340 had to kick in following a basic pilot error.
The latest incident was on a flight from Accra, Ghana to Johannesburg where upon departure in Accra the engines of an Airbus A340 would not start, the flight was delayed, and water was found in the fuel.
Such an incident can cause the engines to flame out, but the flight eventually proceeded to Johannesburg before one engine stalled over the Kalahari and the flight limped back to Johannesburg. Read more here.
Here’s what else we’re reading today:
Num rejects suggestions its members are responsible for stage six rolling blackouts – SABC News
Unions knew if they followed proper legal process they’d never get 7% from Eskom – EWN
SA startup Zapper may be valued at $1 billion as it seeks capital – Fin24
Cell C moves closer to recapitalisation as lenders agree on crucial offer – Fin24
Big changes for Game stores in South Africa – with plans to take on the online giants – BusinessTech
Stage 5 load shedding for Wednesday and Thursday – here’s the new schedule – BusinessTech
ANC NEC moves to overhaul key policies after State Capture Commission’s ‘unsettling’ findings – Daily Maverick
By end of September, architects of state capture will be arrested – NPA, Hawks promise – News24
TikTok’s US data admission stokes fresh concerns – Daily Maverick
Russia’s brain drain is officially under way – Daily Maverick
