5 important things in SA that you need to know about
·1 Feb 2016
Need to catch up on the biggest news stories of the day? Here’s the BusinessTech wrap.
- Presidential pontential Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma is keeping silent on her political future, refusing to give any indication of whether she will be returning to South Africa to campaign for the head of the ANC in June or July. Dlamini-Zuma is said to be up against deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa for the position.
- Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan is inviting the public to voice their views on the economy and what issues they would like government to highlight in next month’s Budget Speech. The Minister called on the public to submit their ideas on the three things that government does well and the three things that government should stop doing.
- Union Solidarity has warned that Eskom’s dealings with the Gupta family could result in as many as 1,700 jobs being lost. Eskom has reportedly penned a deal to start sourcing coal for one of its power stations from the soon-to-be Gupta-owned Optimum Coal mines. Former coal supplier, Exxaro’s contract was not renewed, putting the jobs at risk, Solidarity said.
- Following the SARB rate hike last week, property group, Rawson says that South African banks should cut their profit margins to help consumers during the tough economic times ahead. The group pointed out that banks maintained a 3.50 percentage point difference between the repo rate and prime lending rate, securing their profit margins even when consumers faced extreme economic pressure.
- In technology news: State-owned telco, Telkom has launched a massive trial, in which it will be replacing DSL infrastructure with fibre lines in thousands of homes, for free. The group also released a trading statement showing big growth in its mobile numbers, but the company is struggling to make bank on the sector.
In other news: A South African chef has been awarded a Michelin Star for his restaurant in Nice, France.
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