For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost

Making headlines: Ramaphosa says delegation to Russia and Ukraine focused on food security; BLSA’s Mavusa says NHI will collapse, as it is unworkable; And, Reprieve for Joburg residents as Rand Water puts lengthy outage plan on hold

Ramaphosa says delegation to Russia and Ukraine focused on food security

De-escalation of fighting, increased negotiations, and renewed trade in grain are among some of the points listed in a proposal by African states to end the war in Ukraine, President Cyril Ramaphosa has said in his weekly newsletter.

The president has just returned from Ukraine and Russia as part of a delegation from seven African countries to promote a peaceful resolution to the conflict.

The delegation met with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian President Vladimir Putin separately to present a 10-point proposal that could "contribute to various efforts that have been made by various parties to bring the conflict to an end".

The president said South Africa would continue to maintain a neutral position and advocate for the conflict to be settled through negotiations and diplomacy.

BLSA’s Mavusa says NHI will collapse, as it is unworkable

The passing of the National Health Insurance Bill by the National Assembly is "yet another act in a pantomime that government seems intent on performing", as it is unworkable, says business organisation Business Leadership South Africa CEO Busi Mavuso.

She states that there is no implementation plan because implementation is impossible and that there is no funding plan because funding the NHI is impossible.

She says the NHI Bill has negative consequences as its vision to shut down almost all of the private healthcare system and replace them with a government scheme, is impossible.

The Bill must now proceed through the National Council of Provinces and then the Presidency to be signed off.

And, Reprieve for Joburg residents as Rand Water puts lengthy outage plan on hold

Residents of Johannesburg can relax for now, knowing that their taps won't run dry this week after Rand Water postponed planned maintenance that was going to result in a two-day water outage.

Johannesburg Water had on Thursday warned that some customers would have low pressure to no water from 7pm on June 20, until 3pm on June 22.

The interruption was going to be because of a planned drop-test to measure the potential leakage rate of the water infrastructure, as well as a tie-in between the A19 and B14 pipelines with a new pipeline, installation of isolation valves, and systems upgrades at Rand Water's Eikenhof pump station.

Waterval 1 and 2, Weltevreden, Roodepoort and Meredale 1 and 2 are the reservoirs that were to be affected.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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