For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Shomolekae.

Making headlines: South Africa's unemployment rate falls slightly to 31.9% in fourth quarter; Wits highlights its measures to help financially hard-pressed students; And, Nigeria inflation at 24.48% after rebasing

South Africa's unemployment rate falls slightly to 31.9% in fourth quarter

South Africa's official unemployment rate fell slightly in the fourth quarter of last year, helped by job gains in the finance and manufacturing sectors.

The second quarterly decline in a row took unemployment to 31.9% in October-December from 32.1% in July-September, data from Statistics South Africa showed.

South Africa's coalition government, formed last year after the African National Congress lost its parliamentary majority, has made job creation one of its priorities.

But it will take time to gauge its success at lowering one of the highest unemployment rates in the world.

Reflecting the scale of the problem, an expanded unemployment rate, which includes those discouraged from seeking work, remained unchanged at 41.9% in the final three months of 2024.

Wits highlights its measures to help financially hard-pressed students

The University of the Witwatersrand today highlighted the measures it is taking to assist its students. Funding for their studies is a pressing concern for students all across the country.

Working with the Student Representative Council, Wits has successfully registered 95% of its student body for the 2025 academic year. In numbers, this came to 37 295 students registered, divided into 25 200 undergraduates and 12 098 postgraduates.  (Postgraduate registrations, however, takes place throughout the year, so this number could rise.) The university has a maximum student capacity of about 38 000.

Last year, Wits administered some R1.8-billion in different categories of student funding. Most of the money was in the form of National Student Financial Aid Scheme funding, but some R180-million was from the University Council’s student scholarship funds, and around R28-million was from the hardship fund for registration and emergency accommodation. This funding allowed 26 099 students to access tertiary education last year.

So far this year, through partnering with donors, Wits has been able to clear historic debts totalling R63-million, accrued by 796 students. And the Wits Hardship Fund has allocated some R28-million to help students with registration fees and emergency accommodation. Each student who qualified could receive a maximum of R50 000.

Further, this week a donor has granted R8-million, specifically for postgraduate students with an average of more than 75%, and who needed financial assistance. Many of these have been defunded by the National Research Foundation.

And, Nigeria inflation at 24.48% after rebasing

Nigerian inflation was at 24.48% in annual terms in January, the statistics agency said today, a sharply lower figure than the last release after a rebasing exercise to reflect changes in consumption patterns.

Last month the National Bureau of Statistics estimated inflation was at 34.80% year on year in December, before the rebasing which it says will make its data more up-to-date by using 2024 as the base year instead of 2009.

The statistics agency said that food inflation, a key driver of the headline rate, was at 26.08% year on year in January.

Price pressures have been spurred by President Bola Tinubu's moves to end costly subsidies and devalue the local naira currency. Tinubu's administration hopes those reforms will shore up public finances and boost economic growth.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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