For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: Unemployment rate improves to 32.1% in the third quarter; Overnight water throttling part of new measures to combat Joburg’s water challenges; And, Mozambique ports at risk as opposition chief urges more protests

Unemployment rate improves to 32.1% in the third quarter

South Africa’s unemployment rate decreased by 1.4 percentage points to 32.1% in the third quarter, from 33.5% in the second quarter.

The expanded unemployment rate, which includes discouraged work seekers, decreased by 0.7 of a percentage point to 41.9%, compared with 42.6% in the second quarter.

Statistics South Africa finds in its latest Quarterly Labour Force Survey that the number of employed persons increased by 294 000 to 16.9-million in the third quarter, compared with the second quarter.

There was also a decrease of 373 000 in the number of unemployed persons to eight-million in the quarter, resulting in a decrease of 79 000, or 0.3%, in the labour force.

Discouraged work seekers increased by 160 000, marking a 5% increase, while the number of persons who were not economically active for reasons other than discouragement increased by 54 000, or 0.4%, quarter-on-quarter.

This led to an increase of 214 000 in the number of the not economically active population to 16.5-million.

Overnight water throttling part of new measures to combat Joburg’s water challenges

Johannesburg Water will start throttling water supply from between 9pm and 4pm, as the city experiences increasingly frequent interruptions to daily water supply.

The new measure, set to start on Thursday and be implemented continuously until the system has fully recovered, will enable reservoir levels to recover overnight.

This in addition to the implementation, in September, of level 1 water restrictions, which prohibit the use of hosepipes to water gardens, wash cars, clean driveways and fill up swimming pools between 6am and 6pm. The restrictions remain in place until March 31, 2025.

This followed an urgent meeting over the weekend, convened by Water and Sanitation Minister Pemmy Majodina, which led to unanimous agreement on the causes of the water supply interruptions and what needs to be done to restore a stable water supply to the residents of Johannesburg.

And, Mozambique ports at risk as opposition chief urges more protests

Mozambican opposition leader Venâncio Mondlane called for fresh protests against the results of last month’s election and encouraged supporters to target trade routes with neighbouring South African and Zimbabwe.

The fiery former lawmaker, who rejects the outcome of the October 9 ballot as fraudulent, urged truck drivers plying the routes to the Beira port in the center of the country and Maputo port in the south to blockade them for three days, starting tomorrow.

The call ratchets up risks to the southeast African nation’s economy, which is already straining under weeks of turmoil since the vote.

If successful, it could clog a key ferrochrome export route for South Africa — the world’s biggest producer of the stainless-steel ingredient. Beira is an important port for landlocked Zimbabwe and is also used by copper mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

His previous call for protests last week led to the temporary closure of Mozambique’s main land border with South Africa, one of the region’s busiest crossings.

The demonstrations have also interrupted commercial activity in Maputo, the capital, and raised concerns about further delays to a $20-billion natural gas export project led by TotalEnergies SE.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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