News 09:00

BULLETIN 13 January 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The US House of Representatives approves a three-year AGOA renewal
# ActionSA says the ‘real’ matric pass rate tells a sobering story
# And, the FF Plus lodges a complaint regarding the DA’s campaigning tactics in Tshwane

# The US House of Representatives has approved a three-year extension of the African Growth and Opportunity Act, which allows for duty-free goods from the continent. The agreement officially expired at the end of September last year. The AGOA Extension Bill notably contains no language regarding South Africa, despite the country being one of the largest beneficiaries of the almost 26-year-old trade arrangement. The final version of the bill must still clear the US Senate and be signed into law by president Donald Trump. 

# Build One South Africa says the overall pass rate of 88-percent for the matric class of 2025 for the National Senior Certificate exams is misleading. The pass rate is a slight improvement from the 2024 cohort, which achieved 87.3-percent. BOSA spokesperson, Roger Solomons, says the true matric pass rate is a much lower 54.7-percent, pointing to an education system that is jeopardising the future of young people:

ActionSA has meanwhile congratulated the Class of 2025 on completing their National Senior Certificate, but says the headline pass rates alone do not reflect the true performance of South Africa’s basic education system. ActionSA’s Lerato Ngobeni says measuring how many learners passed matric relative to the 1.14 million learners who entered Grade 10 in 2023, the effective completion rate falls to 57.7-percent:

# The Freedom Front Plus in the Greater Pretoria region has lodged a formal complaint with the Municipal Party Liaison Committee against DA representatives. The party claims the DA representatives have been spreading rumours during campaigning for the upcoming by-election in Ward 57, that if the FF Plus candidate, Wesley Jacobs, wins the election, it would, in effect, mean the ANC wins. FF Plus’ Grandi Theunissen says this constitutes serious violations of the Electoral Code of Conduct:

# Soccer: Real Madrid has parted ways with manager Xabi Alonso by mutual respect after just seven months in charge. This comes after Madrid were beaten 3-2 by Barcelona in the Spanish Super Cup final in Saudi Arabia on Sunday. Alonso came under pressure before Christmas after a difficult run of just two wins in eight games. Álvaro Arbeloa, who has been the coach of the reserve team since June 2025, has been named as Alonso’s replacement. Madrid are second in the LaLiga table, four points behind leaders Barcelona.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand-40-cents and the euro at 19-rand-14-cents. One British pound costs 22-rand-10-cents and Bitcoin trades at 91-thousand-354-dollars. Gold sells at four-thousand-597-dollars-42-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 63-dollars-68-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….