January 10, 2025.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lumkile Nkomfe.

Making headlines:

Gauteng govt launches website for immediate access to matric results

Alan Winde says challenges persist despite ‘encouraging’ 2024, as he prepares for Feb SoPA

And, Moody’s says Sub-Saharan Africa economies well placed for 2025

Gauteng govt launches website for immediate access to matric results

Gauteng MEC for the Department of e-Government Bonginkosi Dhlamini is encouraging Gauteng learners to make use of the new Gauteng Matric Results Online System, as eager matriculants await the release of the results on January 14.

The website will allow learners, parents, and educators immediate access to matriculation examination results, while adhering to the right to privacy for matriculants.

Dhlamini highlighted the critical role of technology in transforming the education landscape.

Results can be accessed with digital devices via the new, user-friendly website, using matriculants’ examination numbers and can be accessed at results.gauteng.gov.za

Alan Winde says challenges persist despite ‘encouraging’ 2024, as he prepares for Feb SoPA

Western Cape Premier Alan Winde will on February 26 officially open the 2nd session of the seventh Western Cape Provincial Parliament, where he will deliver his 2025 State of the Province Address in the central Karoo, in Beaufort West.

Winde will use the SoPA to report to residents the provincial government’s progress in implementing its priorities over the past year and to further outline the priorities of the Western Cape Government for 2025.

He noted the province is still facing many of the same challenges of the past year. Job creation, safety, energy, and water resilience, as well as mitigating climate change remain the most critical focus areas, he said.

However, he highlighted that the province capped off 2024 on an encouraging note with the unemployment rate dropping to below 20% for the first time in a decade.

Moody’s says Sub-Saharan Africa economies well placed for 2025

Sub-Saharan Africa’s economic growth is expected to improve to an average 4.2% this year from an estimated 3.8% in 2024, boosted by investments in energy and infrastructure and an expanded services sector, according to Moody’s Ratings.

The US company lifted its outlook for the region’s credit fundamentals to stable from negative, saying fiscal consolidation efforts would help reduce debt. That’s despite ongoing social, political and environmental risks in countries such as Ivory Coast and Mozambique.

South Africa and Nigeria, the region’s two biggest economies, are both making reforms that boost their creditworthiness and economic-growth prospects, Moody’s said. South Africa will take time to show major improvement even as power cuts ease, while Nigeria is expected to continue with efforts to establish a better-functioning foreign-exchange market.

Average economic growth in sub-Saharan Africa is likely to be higher than in the past decade in part due to a series of shocks, including the commodity-price plunge of 2014-16, the Covid-19 pandemic, and the inflation surge following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine.

However, a renewed loss of access to global capital markets, rising refinancing risks and as-yet-unknown inflationary pressures would threaten stability, Moody’s said. A sustained appreciation of the dollar in 2025 could raise the cost of servicing foreign-currency debt, the group added.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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