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Siviwe Gwarube says South Africa's education system needs long-term reform, not quick political wins. The Basic Education Minister discusses her first two years in office, tackling textbook procurement concerns, eliminating unsafe pit toilets identified in 2018, strengthening early childhood development, and navigating provincial delivery challenges. She argues the real measure of success lies in improving literacy and numeracy from the foundation phase, while defending the DA's record in government and outlining why investing in young learners will shape South Africa's future.

A former brigadier general in the South African Air Force (SAAF) has been jailed in the United States after she pleaded guilty to one count of acting as an agent of South Africa and one of making a false statement in her security clearance application. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Jasmine Opperman, who spent over 20 years in South Africa’s intelligence services, and who is now a senior analyst at Fulcrum Analytics, takes viewers through the case of Portia Anyamba - who held the position of programme management operational specialist in the National Security Programme Office at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory. She came under surveillance by the FBI during regular communication with a State Security Agency (SSA) official stationed at the SA Embassy in Washington and was intercepted prior to another meeting with the official who had instructed her: “Please remember to also bring the laptop with.” Opperman says this case comes at a “very convenient time” for politicians in America. “Is this the ideal situation that the Trump government has been waiting for?”

DA insider and Basic Education Minister Siviwe Gwarube responds to claims that DA ministers haven't delivered, days after John Steenhuisen's bombshell interview shook the party. She explains why the DA's current turmoil could actually be its best opportunity yet, and why she says 2029 is now the party's election to win or lose. Also today: Pretoria's risky new carbon regulations, a Russian oligarch turning on Putin, and why Nvidia's trillion dollar selloff might be a buying signal.

Today's BizNews Daybreak covers escalating US-Iran strikes spiking crude oil and Fed minutes warning of upside inflation risks. Trump permits Ukrainian Patriot missile manufacturing and lifts Syria sanctions, while Apple expands a $30B Broadcom deal and China greenlights Nvidia sales. Locally, Frans Cronje analyses the DA's John Steenhuisen fallout and Willem Els goes through a botched police response to a Ballito mall bomb scare.

Chilling details have emerged of a recent failed bomb attack in the packed Food Court of the Ballito Junction Regional Mall. The device was placed by a 15-year-old radicalised teen intent on committing mass killing, but it failed to explode. The FBI alerted The Hawks, but the bomb had already been placed. The teen was finally arrested last week. In this interview with Chris Steyn, Willem Els, the Senior Training Coordinator on Terrorism and Explosives Related Incidents at the Transnational Threat and International Crimes Programme of the Institute for Security Studies, says: “For a long time, we've been warning about your prevalence of the so-called Lone Wolf scenario in South Africa…And this is maybe a wake-up call for South Africa ”. Prior to placing the bomb, the teen had published his Manifesto on Telegram. In it, he glorified mass killings and claimed that traumatic personal experiences had driven him to extremist online communities whose members were the only people who understood him. Listing all the red flags in the subsequent handling of the case, Els calls for a thorough IPID investigation.