Criminals eye new target, and SABC’s R1 billion bill

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

• Criminals eyeing another target: Road Accident Fund (RAF) beneficiaries in Mpumalanga are being targeted by unscrupulous criminals who kidnap, assault and rob them of their payouts. Mpumalanga police have warned about a surge in house robberies targeting RAF beneficiaries. [News24]

• SABC’s R1 billion bill: Sentech, South Africa’s state-owned signal distribution company, says that SABC owes over R1 billion in unpaid services, with no final payment agreement in place for this historic debt dating back to January 2023. This ongoing financial strain, along with unpaid debts from community radio stations, contributed to Sentech’s R146 million loss for the 2024 financial year, worsening from a R136 million loss in 2023. [News24]

• Fentanyl hits SA: Recent drug tests have found people at South African clinics testing positive for fentanyl, the highly potent opioid drug which has caused tens of thousands of deaths in the US. It is the first direct evidence that South Africa could be headed for a fentanyl crisis of its own, though more data is needed. Researchers say that to address the problem, naloxone will need to be distributed widely. This is a medication which can reverse opioid overdose. [GroundUp]

• ANC wants donation threshold increased: The African National Congress (ANC) has called for the current R15 million limit for individual donations to political parties to be increased, saying that running a big organisation has never been more expensive. However, organisations like My Vote Counts argued that this would create a situation where a political party’s independence might be compromised by one single large donor. [EWN]

• Markets: The rand was steady on Friday after the release of U.S. jobs data, which increased bets of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve later this month. On Monday (09 December), the rand was trading at R18.02 to the dollar, R22.98 to the pound, and R19.08 to the euro. Oil is trading at $71.40 a barrel. [Reuters]