News 11:00

BULLETIN 25 February 11 am

Good morning. I am……..

In this bulletin:

# The EFF wants ACSA to account to Parliament for the deteriorating infrastructure and systematic failures at airports
# Trump says the US will never allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon
# And rugby: Rassie Erasmus says the match against the Barbarians is the ideal preparation for the clash with England

# The EFF says South Africa’s key transport infrastructure is poorly maintained and ill-prepared to deal with crises. This follows yesterday’s fire at the Cape Town International Airport, which led to major disruptions in flight schedules. The EFF says the airport is a national key point and a strategic asset essential for economic activity, and any major disruption sends shockwaves through the economy. It says Airports Company South Africa’s leadership must be summoned to Parliament to account for deteriorating infrastructure, systematic failures and the spiralling cost of air travel.

# Statistics South Africa says nearly 491-billion-rand was spent on education in the 2024/2025 financial year, representing about 21-percent of the national budget. According to Stats SA’s report, households spent around 43-billion-rand on education, mostly on school fees. Spokesperson Seble Worku says families also faced significant additional costs, including more than 27-billion-rand on uniforms, books, and supplies, and over eleven-billion-rand on transport:

Meanwhile, the Nelson Mandela Bay Business Chamber has warned the Eastern Cape faces a full-blown employment emergency. Stats SA’s October to December 2025 survey shows national unemployment eased to 31.4-percent, but in the province it rose by 5.9-points to 42.5-percent. CEO Denise van Huyssteen says youth unemployment is about 54-percent in the province as manufacturing jobs fell 7.6-percent nationally. She emphasised this deepens pressure on the province’s automotive sector, and has called for urgent structural reform and localisation.

Moving abroad:

# US president Donald Trump claims Iran is working on missiles capable of striking the country. He delivered his state of the union address to a joint session of Congress, setting the record for the longest speech, clocking in at almost one-hour-and-50-minutes. Trump reiterated his preference for a diplomatic deal, but drew a red line, saying Iran can never have a nuclear weapon:

# Rugby: Springboks coach Rassie Erasmus says playing against the Barbarians in Gqeberha in June to kick-start their Test season will be an ideal opportunity to get the players match-ready. The game will be played two weeks before the Boks’ inaugural Nations Championship match against England at Ellis Park in Johannesburg. Erasmus says the key for his team will be to focus on structures and what they want to achieve on the field. He adds the sooner they get into a Test mindset, the better.

# And the financial indicators: The dollar trades at 15-rand-90-cents and the euro at 18-rand-78-cents. One British pound costs 21-rand-52-cents and Bitcoin trades at 64-thousand-802-dollars. Gold sells at five-thousand-194-dollars-25-cents a fine ounce and Brent crude oil is quoted at 71-dollars-4-cents a barrel.

Stay tuned for more news………….