News 09:00

BULLETIN 21 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa is confident the relationship between South Africa and the US can be strengthened
# The DA says minister Nkabane must account for the protests at tertiary campuses
# And a judge clears the way for Trump to fire federal workers

# President Cyril Ramaphosa believes that South Africa and the US could still work together and find solutions to their differences. This is as both US Secretary of State, Marco Rubio, and Treasury Secretary, Scott Bessent, have opted not to attend the G20 foreign ministers’ meeting currently being held in Johannesburg, but instead sent senior diplomats as replacements. Speaking to the media on the sidelines of the meeting on Thursday, Ramaphosa said South Africa is committed to having a good relationship with the US:

# The DA is calling on the minister of Higher Education and Training, Nobuhle Pamela Nkabane, to present an action plan to Parliament addressing the serious issues students have highlighted. Students from various tertiary campuses across the country, including Wits and the University of Cape Town, have been protesting over being excluded from registration due to historical debt and lack of accommodation. The DA’s, Matlhodi Maseko, says urgent reforms at the National Student Financial Aid Scheme are needed:

# The Freedom Front Plus in Ekurhuleni says it is concerned about mayor Nkosindiphile Xhakaza’s decision to attend the Green and Resilient Urban Shift Africa Forum in Kenya this week. The metro is facing significant financial challenges, primarily characterised by high outstanding debt, limited liquidity, and a negative credit rating outlook. FF Plus’, Jennifer Glover, says given Ekurhuleni’s current financial crisis including Eskom’s threats to cut the metro’s power supply, the mayor should have reconsidered attending:

# A US judge has rejected a bid by labour unions to halt president Donald Trump’s mass firings of federal employees. The Trump administration wants to purge probationary workers, who have been employed for less than a year, in what it deems wasteful and fraudulent government spending. Judge Christopher Cooper says the unions must pursue their legal challenges with a federal labour board, that hears disputes between unions and federal agencies. According to recent data, more than 200-thousand employees have worked within the federal government for less than a year.

# Golf: France’s Lucie Malchirand opened with an eight-under-par 64 to lead the Standard Bank Ladies Open at the Durbanville Golf Club in Cape Town by four strokes. The 22-year-old is chasing a maiden Sunshine Ladies Tour victory. Malchirand’s closest challenger is Switzerland’s Nobuhle Dlamini who opened with a round of five-under-par 67, followed by South Africa’s Cara Ford and Iceland’s Gudrun Bjorgvinsdottir on four-under-par 68. Defending champion Gabrielle Venter of South Africa finished her round with a score of 73.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-33-cents and the euro at 19-rand-25-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-22-cents and Bitcoin trades at 98-thousand-204-dollars. Gold sells at two-thousand-930-dollars-75-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 76-dollars-7-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….