Business

5 things you need to know in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·8 Sep 2016

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

• South Africa’s nuclear plans have a kick-off date: 30 September 2016, when government will officially open its procurement process, according to energy minister Tina Joemat-Petersson. South Africans are expected to be informed of the costs involved with the nuclear plan between September and December, as the Integrated Resource Plan takes shape. Experts estimate it will cost the country R500 billion or more, which has been an ongoing cause for concern.

• Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan has admitted that the reappointment of Dudu Myeni as chairperson of the SAA board was a compromise on part of Treasury. However, he assured the National Assembly that the defiant and problematic chair would have to be a team player with the new board, and would not have free reign to do as she pleases, as she apparently did during her previous tenure. He said he would be keeping a close eye on board decisions.

• Johannesburg is one of the cheapest cities in the world to do business, but poor infrastructure and insufficient access to technology is holding it back from being a top-10 business centre of opportunity. This is according to a PwC survey on the world’s best cities of opportunity. Joburg is singled out as the best city in the country for business opportunity, but is still held back by social problems such as crime, the report said.

• The National Prosecuting Authority says there is no time frame in which it has to decide whether to charge finance minister Pravin Gordhan or not, further stretching out a two-week long saga which has cast doubt on South Africa’s most important financial institutions. The NPA said it is still looking at the evidence presented by the Hawks.

• South Africa’s markets were boosted by better than expected second quarter GDP data on Tuesday, which carried over on Wednesday, pushing the rand to below R14 to the dollar – its strongest levels in 2 weeks, where news the Hawks were opening a case against finance minister Pravin Gordhan caused a significant dip. On Thursday the rand was trading at R14.02 to the dollar, R18.72 to the pound and R15.78 to the euro.

In global news: Asian shares held within one-year peaks on Thursday as Chinese trade data topped forecasts and imports recorded their first annual rise since late 2014, a promising sign for global demand that gave the Australia dollar a lift. In the USA, Apple shares rose 0.6 percent, after the biggest company by market value unveiled its new iPhone.