5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Vodacom fires 631 workers over fraud: Following Vodacom’s year-long investigation of over 8,652 cases of alleged fraud or irregularities, 631 staff/contractors were dismissed, while 15 suspects ultimately ended up being arrested. [Business Day]

• National Skills Fund mismanagement scandal: The Department of Higher Education’s National Skills Fund is at the centre of a mismanagement scandal, with more than R130 million for training for youth-owned small, medium and micro enterprises allegedly not finding their way to beneficiaries. These allegations have come from project facilitators, who say that much of the work done remains unpaid, which the NSF said it was unaware of and will investigate the allegations. [The Citizen]

• Meyerton smelter set for R1.8 billion revival: The Metalloys smelter in Meyerton, which once supported over 700 jobs and produced around a million tons of manganese alloys annually, is set to be rejuvenated with a new R1.8 billion sales deal. The smelter is owned by the Samancor manganese joint venture, which is managed by South32 – a 60% shareholder – while Anglo American holds the remaining 40%. [News24]

• “Huge” interest from China in EC Economic Zone: The Coega Development Corporation (CDC) said that there is major interest from Chinese investors and companies in its Eastern Cape economic zone. CDC spokesperson Ayanda Vilakazi told News24 that a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the China Construction Bank Corporation was finalised, which is set to establish Coega as a global strategic partner with China’s third-largest commercial lender and also promote business expansion and development between the two countries. [News24]

• Markets: The rand strengthened against major currencies over the long weekend, ahead of the unity government that is set to be formed after President-elect Cyril Ramaphosa’s inauguration on Wednesday. On Tuesday (18 June), the rand was trading at R18.27 to the dollar, R23.19 to the pound, and R19.57 to the euro. Oil is trading at $84.12 a barrel. [Reuters]