For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Halima Frost.

Making headlines: South Africa's inflation rate edges up in December, as expected; Parly committee confident 2026 Budget will consider scholar transport funding; And, De Klerk Foundation condemns Nobel Peace Prize being used as ‘political currency’

South Africa's inflation rate edges up in December, as expected

South African inflation rose slightly in December, as expected, but analysts said they still expect the central bank to deliver several interest rate cuts this year as price pressures remain well contained.

Headline consumer inflation increased to 3.6% year on year in December from 3.5% in November, as predicted by analysts polled by Reuters.

The modest rise keeps the headline rate within the 1 percentage point tolerance band of the central bank's 3% target, and the statistics agency said average inflation for 2025 of 3.2% was the lowest in 21 years.

Annual core inflation, which strips out volatile items like food and energy, came in at 3.3% in December, in line with economists' forecasts.

At its last monetary policy meeting in November, the South African Reserve Bank cut its main lending rate by 25 basis points to 6.75%, and its next policy announcement is scheduled for January 29.

Parly committee confident 2026 Budget will consider scholar transport funding

Ahead of the 2026 Budget, the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Appropriations says it is confident that Minister of Finance Enoch Godongwana will consider the urgent need to strengthen funding and oversight for scholar transport when tabling the National Budget.

Godongwana will deliver the National Budget Speech on February 25.

Committee chairperson Dr Mmusi Maimane expressed shock and sadness following a fatal road accident involving a private scholar transport vehicle, which claimed the lives of 13 school learners from the Vereeniging and Vanderbijlpark areas of Gauteng.

The Standing Committee on Appropriations said public funding of scholar transport was a “critical and urgent matter” that needed coordinated national intervention.

Maimane noted ongoing concerns about overcrowding, unroadworthy vehicles and inadequately licensed drivers and said these challenges could not be addressed by provinces acting in isolation.

A collaborative, multi-stakeholder approach between national and provincial government departments was needed, he stated.

The committee requested an urgent meeting with the Department of Transport, the Department of Basic Education, and all nine provincial MECs for Education to address scholar transport provision, safety standards, funding adequacy and regulatory oversight.

And, De Klerk Foundation condemns Nobel Peace Prize being used as ‘political currency’

The FW de Klerk Foundation has slammed Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado’s decision to give her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump, during her visit to the White House.

The foundation of former President FW De Klerk, who shared the 1993 prize with former President Nelson Mandela, said that the Nobel Peace Prize should not be “abused as a currency to buy political support” and added that the medal was not only a recognition for past achievements.

Instead, the award should act as an encouragement for recipients to continue their efforts, it said, adding that the prize came with the responsibility to “vigorously safeguard freedom, democracy and the rule of law”, for lasting peace.

FW de Klerk Foundation’s Christina Teichmann said Machado’s “symbolic gesture” came at a time when the Trump administration was gearing up for further military intervention in other countries, following its recent action in Venezuela, most notably Greenland.

Teichmann said the renaming of the US Department of Defence to the Department of War indicated that the current US government was more inclined than previous administrations to use military force for “narrow geopolitical goals and interests”.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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