5 Things

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Seth Thorne

 ·6 Mar 2024

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

• Gauteng government concerned about health budget: The Gauteng provincial government is worried that its health budget is not keeping up with the province’s population growth. Despite an over R2 billion increase in the health budget, the province has acknowledged this is insufficient to fix its public healthcare system. Gauteng still relies on outdated population data to prepare its budget. [EWN]

• Mantashe looks to calm gas crisis nerves: Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Gwede Mantashe looked to calm fears that South Africa would run out of natural gas in June 2026, when Sasol stops supplying the resource from Mozambique. The minister said that alternative plans are already being implemented to mitigate the impact and avoid a shortage. [BusinessTech]

• Tshwane misses another JSE deadline: According to the director of issuer regulation at the JSE, Andre Visser, Tshwane still has not published its financial results for 2022/23 despite a warning from the JSE that failure to do so by the end of February may result in the suspension of trade in its listed debt instruments. The metro submitted its results to the Auditor-General late, resulting in its audit still not being finalised. [Moneyweb]

• Sibanya-Stillwater’s multi-billion rand loss: Precious metals producer Sibanye-Stillwater reported a loss of R37.4 billion in the year to end December after a 33% year-on-year decline in the average platinum group metal basket price. This is compared with a R19 billion profit in 2022. [BusinessDay]

• Markets: The rand recovered on Tuesday after data showed the economy grew marginally in the fourth quarter, and a purchasing managers’ index survey revealed that the country’s private sector activity expanded for the first time in six months. On Wednesday (6 March), the rand was trading at R18.97 to the dollar, R24.09 to the pound, and R20.58 to the euro. Oil is trading at $82.21 a barrel. [Reuters]