5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Competitors want Safair suspended: Lift and Airlink plan to ask the Air Service Licensing Council to suspend FlySafair’s license, alleging it breaches South African ownership laws by not meeting the 75% local shareholding requirement. FlySafair refutes this, claiming full compliance and suggesting that the complaint is a strategy by competitors to negatively affect its bookings. [News24]

• Justice Department warns magistrates against ‘illegal strike’: The Justice Department has warned magistrates considering a strike over salaries that such an action “would be improper and unbecoming” of their position, arguing that their pay is set by President Cyril Ramaphosa, not the department. This comes after reports of potential strike action by magistrates from the Judicial Officers Association of South Africa (Joasa), who are frustrated by delays in reviewing salary increases by the Independent Commission for the Remuneration of Public Office-bearers. [The Citizen]

• Gauteng government head departs amid corruption allegations: The head of the Gauteng Department of Social Development has left office amid corruption claims linked to her past role in the Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development Department. Despite facing fraud allegations and an SIU investigation, she was transferred to the Social Development Department in July 2023. Premier Panyaza Lesufi has said that she will undergo a disciplinary process following the SIU’s findings. [GroundUp]

• RAF CEO claims ‘systemic bias’ by judges: Collins Letsoalo, CEO of the Road Accident Fund (RAF), said that he believes that there may be systemic bias against the RAF by some judges, giving their mounting court losses. He signalled the RAF’s intention to simplify its claims process and mentioned challenges in dealing with certain judges, hinting at predictable negative outcomes in some cases. Letsoalo’s remarks were made in the context of addressing a backlog of over 321,000 claims. [Moneyweb]

• Markets:  The rand remained relatively unchanged on Thursday after a purchasing managers’ index showed that manufacturing activity had improved last month. On Friday (3 May), the rand was trading at R18.54 to the dollar, R23.25 to the pound, and R19.90 to the euro. Oil is trading at $83.89 a barrel. [Reuters]