
Top 10 stories of the day: Load shedding till Thursday
Here's your daily news update for Tuesday, 13 May 2025: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories.
In the news today, South Africans should brace themselves for dark evenings as Eskom announces it will implement stage 2 load shedding from 4pm on Tuesday until 10pm on Thursday.
Meanwhile, media personality Minnie Dlamini says she is taking legal action against podcaster Macgyver 'MacG' Mukwevho who made disparaging comments about her.
Furthermore, unemployment in South Africa increased by a full 1% in the first quarter of 2025, with the economy shedding 291 000 jobs.
Weather tomorrow: 14 May 2025
Weather warnings include heatwave conditions in Richtersveld, Northern Cape and fire risks parts of the Northern and Western Cape. Fine, cool conditions expected elsewhere. Full weather forecast here.
Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way.
Eskom to implement stage 2 load shedding from Tuesday
Eskom has announced it will implement stage 2 load shedding during evening peak periods from 4pm on Tuesday until 10pm on Thursday.
This, it said, is to manage limited generation capacity and ensure continued supply during the working days.
Picture: iStock
The decision follows the delayed return of generation units amounting to 3 120MW, as well as an additional loss of 1 385MW in the past 24 hours due to unplanned breakdowns.
'The primary reason for this setback is the delay in returning several units from planned maintenance,' said Eskom.
CONTINUE READING: Eskom to implement stage 2 load shedding from Tuesday
'I will continue to pursue legal recourse': Minnie Dlamini breaks silence after MacG's apology
Minnie Dlamini has spoken out following an apology from Podcast and Chill host Macgyver 'MacG' Mukwevho for offensive comments he made about her on the show.
In a statement released on Tuesday, Dlamini said she was hurt and shocked by the comments made about her body and personal life on the podcast.
Media personality Minnie Dlamini. Picture: Instagram/@minniedlamini
'Over the past few weeks, I have watched in disbelief and deep pain as my name, body, and dignity were dragged through the mud of public discourse,' she said.
She described the remarks made by MacG as 'vile, humiliating, and inexcusable'.
CONTINUE READING: 'I will continue to pursue legal recourse': Minnie Dlamini breaks silence after MacG's apology
How topless car thieves met their match against SANDF officer in pyjamas and slippers
Unemployment in South Africa increased by a full 1% in the first quarter of 2025, with the economy shedding 291 000 jobs.
This means that only 16.8 million South Africans are working, down from 17.1 million in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Picture: iStock
According to the results of the Quarterly Labour Force Survey conducted by Statistics South Africa (Statistics SA) and released on Tuesday, 13 May, the official unemployment rate was 32.9%.
This is after an increase of 237 000 in the number of unemployed people to 8.2 million, resulting in a decrease of 54 000 (down by 0.2%) in the labour force.
CONTINUE READING: Jobs bloodbath as unemployment increases by 1% in first quarter
Three coaches who could replace Riveiro at Pirates
Orlando Pirates announced on Monday that Jose Riveiro will be leaving the club immediately after Tuesday evening's Betway Premiership match at home to Golden Arrows.
The club had already agreed to part ways with Riveiro when his contract runs out at the end of this season. But now they have brought his departure forward, with a move to Egyptian giants Al Ahly reportedly imminent.
Will Orlando Pirates re-hire Rulani Mokwena as head coach? Picture: Nabil Ramdani/BackpagePix
Pirates are unlikely to announce Riveiro's replacement before the end of the current campaign. But there are a few candidates who would surely fit the bill.
Phakaaathi takes a look at three coaches – Rulani Mokwena, Pitso Mosimane and Gavin Hunt – who might take over the Buccaneers hot seat.
CONTINUE READING: Three coaches who could replace Riveiro at Pirates
Trump's asylum offer now open to all South African minorities facing 'persecution'
As the first plane load of South African 'refugees' headed towards their new home in America yesterday, the US embassy in South Africa confirmed that President Donald Trump's offer of asylum is now open to all minorities in this country who have been 'persecuted' or feel they may be persecuted.
In a statement on its website yesterday, the US embassy and consulates in South Africa said the US department of state 'is coordinating with the department of homeland security and implementing partners to consider eligibility for US refugee resettlement for Afrikaners and disfavoured minorities in South Africa who are victims of unjust racial discrimination'.
A group of Afrikaners gathered outside the American Embassy in Pretoria to deliver a memorandum to US President Donald Trump. Picture: Nigel Sibanda /The Citizen
It went on: 'To be eligible for US resettlement consideration, individuals must meet all of the following criteria:
'Must be of South African nationality;
'Must be of Afrikaner ethnicity or be a member of a racial minority in South Africa; and
'Must be able to articulate a past experience of persecution or fear of future persecution.'
CONTINUE READING: Trump's asylum offer now open to all South African minorities facing 'persecution'
Here are five more stories of the day:
Yesterday's News recap
READ HERE: Top 10 stories of the day: 49 Afrikaners not 'refugees' | Woman admits burning Smith's shack | Maile: R1.8bn not lost
Hashtags

Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles


eNCA
an hour ago
- eNCA
Discussing BBBEE redress policies effect on the economy
JOHANNESBURG - The critique of South Africa's so-called "racial policies" by the United States has again put BBEE in the spotlight. READ: Ramaphosa defends BEE policies in Parliament Broad-based economic empowerment measures were put in place to counter apartheid policies that disadvantaged different groups of South Africans through poorer education, a lack of promotion and confiscation of their assets and rights. Many have argued it's not working. An academic says that the complex problems affecting the country's economic growth cannot be reduced to policies aimed at redress. Dr Khwezi Mabasa, the Economic and Social Policy Lead at Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung South Africa, discussed this with eNCA.


Daily Maverick
2 hours ago
- Daily Maverick
New documentary shines a light on the environmental damage caused by Elon Musk's tech ambitions
In the broiling shadow of rocket flames and broadband dreams, the inconvenient truths of Elon Musk's techno-utopia are being tidily shuffled out of frame. Canadian director Julien Elie's haunting new black-and-white documentary film, Shifting Baselines, does not shout its message. It doesn't need to. The scorched landscapes of Boca Chica, Texas, where Elon Musk's SpaceX has set up shop, speak for themselves. They whisper of seabirds gone silent, of beaches turned to junkyards, and of a natural world redrawn by a billionaire's imagination. Back in South Africa, the airwaves have been thick with chatter about Musk's Starlink satellite network finally getting a potential regulatory green light to operate here after sustained pressure from Musk himself and the Trump administration. Some have hailed the prospect of Musk's high-speed internet in rural areas as a form of digital salvation for South Africans marooned, in a communications sense, in the hinterland. That there could be benefits, in particular, for rural schools and rural police stations seems clear. It has also been notable how many voices have been happy to overlook the reality that there already exist alternatives, some of which have been pioneered by local businesses at considerable expense; and that the projected costs of a Starlink terminal (around R6,000) and the monthly fee (at least two or three times the average internet contract) will put it far beyond fantasy for the vast majority of South Africa's rural citizens. But amid the enthusiastic flag-waving for this latest piece of technological deliverance, there has been an even more deafening silence about its environmental cost. Starlink junk burning up ozone layer Shifting Baselines' title refers to a concept coined by the marine biologist Daniel Pauly, who explains how each generation accepts the ecological degradation of its lifetime as its new normal. Over time, we forget what the planet of our ancestors once looked like, smelled like, sounded like. It is a quiet kind of erasure. The documentary shows us the once-thriving ecosystems around Musk's rocket launch sites reduced to industrial debris, and the community of Boca Chica transformed into a workers' colony for Musk's Starbase operation. The birds are dwindling in numbers. The fish are tiny. And the sky, once a canvas for stars, is now obscured by satellites and space junk. SpaceX's satellite constellation, Starlink, makes up more than 60% of all satellites orbiting Earth. According to the UK-based space firm Space Forge, about 40% of the material now burning up in Earth's atmosphere comes from Starlink satellites, which are designed to last only five years and disintegrate on entry. That translates to at least 500kg of incinerated hardware every day. Harvard astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told in October 2024 that there is now a Starlink satellite re-entry almost every day. Some days see multiple burn-ups. These are not elegant, imperceptible disappearances. They contribute to atmospheric pollution in ways that are only just beginning to be studied. An October 2024 letter to the US Federal Communications Commission, signed by more than 100 top space scientists, warned urgently that the effects of these satellites have yet to be adequately researched. Their concerns were unequivocal: the pace of satellite deployment has vastly outstripped the regulatory frameworks meant to assess their environmental impact. 'Over just five years, Starlink has launched more than 6,000 units and now make up more than 60% of all satellites. The new space race took off faster than governments were able to act. Regulatory agencies review individual licences and lack the policies in place to assess the total effects of all proposed mega-constellations,' they wrote. 'Until national and international environmental reviews can be completed, we should stop launching further low Earth orbit satellites as part of constellations that provide consumer internet connectivity.' Meanwhile, light pollution from the Starlink array is already interfering with astronomers' work. It affects projects like South Africa's own Salt telescope, a major scientific facility — and genuine national treasure — whose vision of the stars is now often smeared by the unintended signatures of broadband ambition. If Starlink comes to South Africa, the astronomer Federico di Vruno told Reuters this week, 'it will be like shining a spotlight into someone's eyes, blinding us to the faint radio signals from celestial bodies'. Tech-optimism is eclipsing climate change realities Elie's film returns often to scenes of spectators in lawn chairs, watching Musk's rocket launches with misty eyes. Most are Boomers clearly nostalgic about the Space Race of their youth. Some describe the spectacle of a SpaceX launch as their 'Apollo moment'. SpaceX employees scrawl 'We are explorers' on bollards. But the documentary carefully strips away the romance to reveal a more uncomfortable truth. The rockets and satellites rise and return from land and skies now scarred by the vehicles of Musk's monomaniacal, megalomaniacal ambition. This is the paradox at the heart of the Musk myth. His obsession with space colonisation is sold as a response to climate collapse on Earth. Yet in pursuing that dream, he accelerates the very forces he claims to resist. The rockets that might someday touch down on Mars are poisoning the skies of Earth today. Each new satellite that promises to bridge digital divides also quietly widens the environmental ones. All the while, climate change — once seemingly the moral rallying cry of a generation — appears to be quietly slipping off the agenda. The inevitable reports are now emerging, a veritable flurry this past weekend alone, about the jobs that are already being lost to AI. What is virtually absent from the discourse is the ruinous environmental impact of the Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT: a November 2024 study found that just 16% of respondents were aware of the huge amount of water required to cool AI servers. Shifting Baselines invites us to look beyond the dazzle of innovation from the tech industry with which we are all bombarded daily to the dull, persistent erosion of the real world. It asks us to consider what we are losing in our quest to win the future — as the sky fills up with ghosts. DM here.


The Citizen
4 hours ago
- The Citizen
Top 10 stories of the day: Shivambu removed as MK Party SG
Here's your daily news update for Tuesday, 3 June 2025: An easy-to-read selection of our top stories. News today includes the MK party leader has removed Floyd Shivambu as secretary-general of the party. Meanwhile, the EFF has lost its urgent bid to halt the upcoming increase in the general fuel levy. Furthermore, in his welcome note at the memorial service of actor Presley Chweneyagae, the mayor of Mahikeng, Tshepiso Mphehlo, reflected on the pinnacle of the province's art scene when Tsosti was released. Weather tomorrow: 4 June 2025 Damaging waves and strong winds are forecast to impact coastal areas of the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, while cold weather is expected across much of the country. Full weather forecast here. Stay up to date with The Citizen – More News, Your Way. MK party removes Floyd Shivambu as SG The MK party leader has removed Floyd Shivambu as secretary-general of the party. This comes after an investigation into Shivambu's trip to Malawi to visit fugitive pastor Shepherd Bushiri's Enlightened Church. Former MK party secretary-general Floyd Shivambu. Picture: Nigel Sibanda MK national chair Nathi Nhleko said Shivambu is now deployed as a Member of Parliament. CONTINUE READING: MK party removes Floyd Shivambu as SG US extradition of Magashule's ex-PA Moroadi Cholota declared unlawful The Free State High Court in Bloemfontein has ruled that it does not have jurisdiction to try Moroadi Cholota, the former personal assistant to ex-Free State premier, Ace Magashule. Judge Philip Loubser, who is presiding over the R255 million asbestos corruption trial, handed down his judgment on Tuesday. Moroadi Cholota (former PA to Free State Premier Ace Magashule) at the Bloemfontein High Court on 15 April 2025. Picture: Gallo Images/Mlungisi Louw This followed two weeks of testimony from state witnesses Benjamin Calitz and Nicholas 'Nico' Jacobus Gerber, both officers with the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (DPCI), commonly known as the Hawks, in a trial-within-a-trial relating to Cholota's extradition from the United States (US). CONTINUE READING: US extradition of Magashule's ex-PA Moroadi Cholota declared unlawful Fuel levy hike to go ahead as EFF fails in court The EFF has lost its urgent bid to halt the upcoming increase in the general fuel levy. The Western Cape High Court in Cape Town ruled against the party on Tuesday, a day before the new levy was set to take effect. Petrol pumps are pictured at a filling station in Melville on 20 January 2021. Picture: Tracy Lee Stark The EFF had sought an urgent interdict in Part A of its court application to suspend the planned hike of 16 cents per litre for petrol and 15 cents for diesel. CONTINUE READING: Fuel levy hike to go ahead as EFF fails in court No fireworks expected, but GDP figures are disappointing — economists Economists expected no fireworks from the GDP figures for the first quarter of the year, but they all agree that the growth of 0.1% is disappointing. They even wonder if expecting economic growth of 1% is already a stretch, as the economy was drifting from slow growth to virtually no growth. Picture: iStock Jee-A van der Linde, senior economist at Oxford Economics Africa, says the South African economy continued to trend sideways at the start of 2025. CONTINUE READING: No fireworks expected, but GDP figures are disappointing — economists Presley Chweneyagae: Mourners gathered at Mmabatho like they did in 2018 for HHP In his welcome note at the memorial service of actor Presley Chweneyagae, the mayor of Mahikeng, Tshepiso Mphehlo, reflected on the pinnacle of the province's art scene when Tsosti was released. 'That period was a pinnacle period for the arts and culture in Mahikeng,' shared Mphehlo. The first memorial service of Presley Chweneyagae was hosted in his hometown of Mahikeng. Picture: Presley Oageng Chweneyagae/Facebook The memorial service is being held at the Mmabatho Convention Centre for the late 40-year-old actor, who passed away a week ago. CONTINUE READING: Presley Chweneyagae: Mourners gathered at Mmabatho like they did in 2018 for HHP Here are five more stories of the day: Yesterday's News recap READ HERE: Likhona killed for being lesbian? | Slain Kutlwano's 'wrong' gender | inmates boycott graduation