R38 million pension savings down the drain, and plane crashes in South Africa

South Africa’s rand remained weak on Friday after the country’s central bank left its main interest rate unchanged, as expected.

The rand traded at 18.22 against the dollar, about 0.5% weaker than its previous close. On Thursday (20 March), the South African Reserve Bank (SARB) paused its rate-cutting cycle, keeping the repo rate at 7.50%.

The pause came on the back of risks stemming from U.S. President Donald Trump’s global trade war and the country’s deadlocked national budget overshadowed its success in keeping inflation low.

On Monday (24 March), the rand was trading at R18.23 to the dollar, R23.55 to the pound and R19.73 to the euro. Oil is trading lower at $71.92 a barrel.

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

R38 million in pensions down the drain: The financial services regulator and the Auditor-General are taking action against municipalities that deduct but don’t pay pension contributions. The Mafube Local Municipality was ordered by the Free State High Court to pay R37.7 million to the Municipal Workers Retirement Fund for failing to transfer pension benefits. Only R97,000 was available in its accounts, which was paid to the fund. [Business Day]

Plane crash: The Accident and Incident Investigations Division (AIID) of the South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) has arrived at Saldanha Airport to start examining the circumstances that led to a fatal aircraft accident on Saturday (21 March). [EWN]

Government costing jobs: A 30-year-old consulting firm in the construction industry says late and non-payment of invoices by the government is forcing it to consider retrenchment. “Staff members have already been notified, and the official retrenchment process has begun,” the managing director of CSM Consulting Services, Dolf Möhr, said. [News24]

Bad news for Gautrain: The Gautrain’s passenger numbers are still far below those before the COVID-19 pandemic, raising concerns about the rail network’s financial sustainability. [MyBroadband]

Nail in the coffin of load shedding: Eskom has added a nail in the coffin for load shedding in South Africa by adding 800MW of new capacity to the national grid. This significant step toward ending load shedding was achieved with the successful synchronisation of Kusile Power Station’s final unit, Unit 6. [BusinessTech]