News 09:00

BULLETIN 23 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The FF Plus says Ramaphosa and the ANC realise that the National Health Insurance is stillborn
# Rugby: France beat Italy to maintain its Six Nations Grand Slam bid
# And, One Battle After Another and Sinners are the big winners at the BAFTA Film Awards

# The Freedom Front Plus says president Cyril Ramaphosa and the ANC have finally realised that the National Health Insurance is a stillborn dream. This comes as Ramaphosa has formally pledged not to promulgate any provisions of the NHI Act until the Constitutional Court rules in two challenges over how the law was approved. FF Plus’ Philip van Staden says the ten cases currently pending against the NHI Act serve as clear proof that the legislation should be scrapped entirely:

# Minister of Electricity and Energy, Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, says government is committed to ending load reduction across the country by the end of April, with its complete eradication by the end of the year. Load reduction is an Eskom strategy that restricts electricity consumption in localised areas to protect grid infrastructure. Provinces, including the Free State, Eastern Cape and the North West are experiencing load reduction. Ramokgopa says eliminating all illegal connections, strengthening infrastructure, and upgrading transformers is key to the success of ending load reduction.

# ActionSA in Johannesburg has welcomed the recent court ruling declaring a controversial 263-million-rand water tanker tender invalid. Johannesburg Water awarded the tender in 2024 to Builtpro Construction and Nutinox, contracted to supply 70 water tankers to the City of Johannesburg for three years. However, in December 2025, a court accepted a rival bidder’s argument that the tender had lapsed before it was awarded, making the contracts invalid. ActionSA’s Mpumi Edward says those responsible must be held accountable:

# Rugby: France sealed a 33-8 bonus-point win over Italy at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy in Lille, to edge closer to securing a Six Nations Grand Slam and back-to-back titles. Les Bleus scored five tries to Italy’s one. France travel to Edinburgh to face Scotland on Saturday, 7 March, where a bonus-point victory at Murrayfield will clinch the title for Fabien Galthie’s side. France’s defence coach, Shaun Edwards, says this was a really tough game of rugby:

# The financial indicators: The dollar trades at 16-rand and the euro at 18-rand-92-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-63-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-868-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-161-dollars-15-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 70-dollars-55-cents a barrel.

# And finally, One Battle After Another dominated the 79th BAFTA Film Awards in London, winning six awards, including best film, supporting actor for Sean Penn, and director for Paul Thomas Anderson. Ryan Coogler’s vampire thriller Sinners walked away with three awards: best original screenplay, best original score, and best supporting actress for Wunmi Mosaku. The film is the most decorated film from a Black director. The leading actor award went to Robert Aramayo for I Swear, while Jessie Buckley won leading actress for Hamnet, which was also named outstanding British film.

Stay tuned for more news………….