News 07:00

BULLETIN 20 February 7 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# President Ramaphosa says the budget will work for citizens and investors
# Dawie Roodt says the budget delay signals a turning point for the government of national unity
# And, Trump calls Zelenskyy a dictator

# President Cyril Ramaphosa says the cabinet’s continuing deliberations on the budget will deliver outcomes that will protect vulnerable citizens, and lay a platform for economic growth. Finance minister Enoch Godongwana’s budget speech was postponed on Wednesday after the government of national unity could not agree on amongst other issues, a proposal to increase value-added tax by two-percent. Ramaphosa’s spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, says the government will work to ensure that the budget works for individuals and investors alike:

Meanwhile, Economist Dawie Roodt says the postponement of the budget speech is unprecedented and shows deep divisions within the government of national unity. He says the ANC attempted to raise taxes, including VAT, but faced strong opposition from the DA. Roodt says South Africans cannot afford more taxes and calls for drastic cuts to government spending, blaming the ANC for economic mismanagement:

And, the Freedom Front Plus says parties in the government of national unity have demonstrated that they will not be bullied. The FF Plus believes increasing VAT will have a direct and significant impact on the country’s economy. It adds that better fiscal discipline is needed to address budget deficits, not tax hikes.

# The University of Witwatersrand says it has gone to great lengths to help struggling students, but it cannot afford to clear historical student debt. The university briefed Parliament’s portfolio committee on Higher Education on Wednesday, where it revealed that it is sitting with 1.42-billion-rand in unpaid student fees. The institution only allows students with a debt of less than ten-thousand-rand to register and if the debt is higher, students must pay at least 50-percent of the outstanding amount. Wits say they cannot afford to provide free education.

# US president Donald Trump has called Ukraine’s president Volodymyr Zelenskyy a dictator without elections. This comes after Zelenskyy accused Trump of repeating Russian disinformation and rejecting his claims that Ukraine had started the war. Zelenskyy’s presidential term expired last May, however, Ukraine has been under martial law since the Russian invasion in February 2022, which means presidential elections are suspended. In a post on Truth Social, Trump said the only thing Zelenskyy was good at was playing former president Joe Biden like a fiddle.

# Rugby: Flyhalf Matthieu Jalibert is ill and will miss France’s Six Nations clash with Italy in Rome on Sunday. He was in the starting-15 in the second-round clash with England after Romain Ntamack was suspended, but didn’t impress and was substituted halfway through the second half. Fullback Thomas Ramos covered the flyhalf position during training. Head coach Fabian Galthie will only announce his team tomorrow morning. France convincingly beat Wales in the first round before losing to England in their next game.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 18-rand-55-cents and the euro at 19-rand-32-cents. One British pound costs 23-rand-33-cents and Bitcoin trades at 96-thousand-654-dollar-50-cents. Gold sells at two-thousand-935-dollars-12-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 75-dollars-82-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….