Good news for South Africa, and municipal maintenance disaster

South Africa’s rand weakened on Wednesday following the postponement of the national budget due to disagreements within the coalition government.

Analysts noted that this immediate market reaction was not surprising given the last-minute cancellation, but they expect the current volatility to be temporary.

The rand was trading at 18.565 against the dollar, down about 0.9% from its previous close.

Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said that the government would engage in further discussions and plan to propose a new budget in March.

On Thursday (20 February), the rand strengthened slightly, trading at R18.51 to the dollar, R23.31 to the pound and R19.30 to the euro. Oil is trading lower at $75.84 a barrel.

Here are five other news stories making waves in South Africa today:

Good news for SA: According to Johann Els, group chief economist at Old Mutual, South Africa may see Moody’s and Fitch upgrade their credit outlooks from “stable” to “positive” within the next six to twelve months. [Business Day]

Municipal maintenance disaster: As many as 64 municipalities are considered distressed by the Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta). A presentation by Cogta officials showed that these distressed municipalities were spending, on average, roughly 4% of their budget on maintenance. [The Citizen]

Europe backs South Africa: South Africa and the European Union stressed the importance of a non-discriminatory, rules-based trading system for global economic growth and sustainability. The EU positioned itself as a “reliable and predictable” partner for South Africa amid U.S. trade disruptions and political tensions. [News24]

Discovery Vitality benefit changes: Starting in March, Discovery’s Vitality behaviour-change platform will implement far stricter rules on its HealthyFood benefit. These changes include the Dormancy rule and the ‘Enhancement’ rule. [Moneyweb]

New date set for Budget speech: Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana says that a new or revised budget will be tabled on 12 March 2025. This follows the cancellation of the budget speech on Wednesday (19 February) so that further deliberations could take place within the Government of National Unity (GNU). [BusinessTech]