News 09:00

BULLETIN 10 February 9 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The DA welcomes minister Gwarube’s push to expand access to maths
# SCOPA moves to the final stage of its ten-week enquiry into the Road Accident Fund
# And, there is no immediate threat to South Africa from Tropical Storm Gezani

# The DA has welcomed minister of Basic Education, Siviwe Gwarube’s efforts to encourage provinces to reintroduce maths in Grade 10 this year. A total of 435 schools across the country did not offer maths in Grade 12 as of 2024, with KwaZulu-Natal being the highest province with 130 schools, followed by the Eastern Cape with 85. The DA’s Ciska Jordaan says learning science, technology, engineering and maths develops critical skills like logical reasoning, analytical skills and problem solving:

# Parliament’s Standing Committee on Public Accounts will consider the draft framework of its report this week, marking the final phase of its oversight enquiry into the Road Accident Fund. SCOPA says several issues emerged during the ten-week enquiry and will be addressed in the final report. These include the RAF’s decision to cancel its Panel of Attorneys, which partly led to default court judgements that now total 15.7-billion-rand, and the introduction of the new RAF 1 claim form, which requires claimants to spend up to 100-thousand-rand to register a claim.

# The ANC Youth League in Gauteng is calling for a speedy resolution of the ongoing dispute between the provincial Education Department and scholar transport operators. The Gauteng Small Bus Operators Council went on strike last week over unpaid invoices, leaving thousands of pupils, who depend on the subsidised system, stranded. The ANC Youth League’s Palese Molefe says that serious concerns are allegations that certain officials are demanding a 20-percent cut from payments meant for scholar transport operators:

# The South African Weather Service is closely monitoring the moderate tropical storm Gezani in the south-west Indian Ocean, east of Madagascar. The storm is expected to make landfall over eastern Madagascar today and may strengthen before arrival. Senior Forecaster Tokelo Chiloane says after crossing Madagascar, Gezani may weaken before entering the Mozambique Channel later in the week, where it could re-intensify:

# Cricket: The International Cricket Council has confirmed that Pakistan’s fixture against India at the T20 World Cup will go ahead as scheduled on Sunday. The Pakistani government last week directed its team to boycott the Group A contest to show solidarity with Bangladesh, which was replaced in the tournament by Scotland after refusing to tour India over safety concerns. The ICC says all parties involved are committed and purposeful in their aspirations to serve the best interests of the game with integrity, neutrality and cooperation.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-89-cents and the euro at 18-rand-93-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-75-cents, and Bitcoin trades at 69-thousand-702-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-24-dollars-99-cents a fine ounce, and Brent crude oil is quoted at 68-dollars-61-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….