5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·14 Sep 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- President Jacob Zuma is tired of being mocked in Parliament and is threatening to not return until MPs are brought in line. Zuma was grilled and heckled by opposition parties in Parliament on Tuesday, where he was barraged with insults by the EFF, and picked apart by the DA for his non-responses to questions put to him. He told speaker Baleka Mbete that every time he’s in Parliament, he is “abused”.
- Finance minister Pravin Gordhan has confirmed massive losses at South African Airways, with the group reporting a R4.7 billion loss in 2014/15, and a further R1.8 billion loss in 2015/16. Gordhan admitted that the airline would collapse without government guarantees. Last week, the minister signed off on a R5 billion bailout for SAA, which comes with strict conditions.
- President Jacob Zuma is getting a new plane, whether the opposition or South Africans want it or not. Defence Minister Nosiviwe Mapisa-Nqakula has confirmed that the president will get the plane within the next 18 months, and that R300 million had been budgeted for the purchase, with the minister shooting down claims that R4 billion would be spent on the new aircraft.
- South African teachers are in trouble, with a new report showing that local educators are getting worse scores for maths and English than they achieved in 2007. Worryingly grade 6 teachers’ critical reading skills have dropped significantly to only 33% in the latest report, compared to 77.8% in 2007. Previous studies showed that teachers couldn’t answer questions that were presented to their pupils in tests.
- South Africa’s rand retreated more than two percent on Tuesday as domestic political rifts and continued uncertainty about the direction of global interest rates in United States and Europe weighed on investors. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R14.41 to the dollar, R19.02 to the pound and R16.17 to the euro.
In global news: Asian stocks fell to fresh six-week lows on Wednesday and the greenback stood strong against a broad swathe of currencies including the Japanese yen as concerns grew about the fading impact of the world’s major central banks to stimulate growth. Oil prices rebounded in Asian trade on Wednesday after falling by as much as 3 percent in the previous session.
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