5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Process to find deputy public protector collapses: The process of appointing a new deputy public protector has failed and will need to be restarted after a legal opinion from the parliament discovered that Busisiwe Mkhwebane, a former public protector and current EFF MP, had connections with two candidates interviewed for the position and therefore should have recused herself. [Business Day]

• Corruption probe launched into KZN department: The Special Investigating Unit (SIU) has been authorised to begin an investigation into the affairs of the KwaZulu-Natal Sports, Arts, and Culture Department to probe allegations of severe maladministration and corruption over the past four years in the provincial department. [SANews]

• Woolworths acquires Absolute Pets: Woolworths Holdings Limited (WHL) has announced that the Competition Tribunal has approved the acquisition of pet retailer Absolute Pets in South Africa. The company signalled their intentions last year to acquire 93.45% of the shares in privately-owned Absolute Pets (Pty) Ltd from Sanlam Private Equity and Absolute Pets management. [BusinessTech]

• University of Fort Hare corruption saga arrests: Numerous officials in the University of Fort Hare’s top management, as well as lawyers, forensic experts, and security bosses, were arrested in what the State alleges is an R171 million corruption scheme seen through dodgy contracts and suspicious billing. Various security contracts have particularly been under scrutiny, which was made necessary after several murders and other unsuccessful assassination attempts, which prosecutors alleged were contrived to create panic. [News24]

• Markets: The rand strengthened on Tuesday after the U.S. dollar slipped amid a new report that showed U.S. job openings held steady at higher levels. On Wednesday (3 April), the rand was trading at R18.79 to the dollar, R23.64 to the pound, and R20.24 to the euro. Oil is trading at $89.01 a barrel. [Reuters]