5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·16 Sep 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Another member of the ANC executive has spoken out against the Hawks for their pursuit of finance minister Pravin Gordhan – Joel Netshitenzhe – calling the case against the minister “politicking”. This comes as minister ANC high-ups call for officials and ministers to not air their views publicly, and rather address concerns in private. A number of current and former ANC officials have spoken out and taken sides in the matter, revealing a divided ruling party on a number of matters, including the ongoing Gupta saga.
- Rating agency Moody’s has told South Africa in no uncertain terms that it is at serious risk of a downgrade, having out several state-owned companies up for a review. The group is in the country next week, and has adjusted the growth forecast down to 0.2%, while warning that political infighting is a big blight on the ratings map. Moody’s has South Africa two notches above junk status, unlike Fitch and S&P Gobal where the country is one notch above.
- Civil group Outa says it has laid charges against the CEO of BnP Capital – the small financier who almost scored a R256 million contract with SAA. Outa exposed corrupt activity in the contract, including the fact that BnP was not licenced. Outa is laying the charge on grounds of fraud, uncompetitive behaviour, and non-disclosure of important information.
- Energy expert Chris Yelland has warned that South Africa’s nuclear plans are based on old data – and that the country will now likely have an unnecessary surplus of power thanks to government’s poor management in developing projects. According to Yelland, the ‘need’ for 9600MW of nuclear power is based on 2010 data, while energy demand has dropped significantly since 2011. Government has failed to accurately forecast the last 5 years, so thinking it will be able to forecast the next 15 is a mistake, he said.
- South Africa’s rand gained more than 1 percent on Thursday, stretching a recent recovery into a second consecutive session after weak U.S. retail sales data boosted investor appetite for high-yielding emerging market assets. On Friday the rand is trading at R14.21 to the dollar, R18.81 to the pound and R15.97 to the euro.
In global news: Asian stocks wavered on Thursday as investors grappled with the apparently diminishing ability of major central banks to stimulate growth, while a tumble in crude oil prices added to the risk-averse mood. Wall Street rallied 1 percent on Thursday, buoyed by Apple’s best four-day run since 2014, higher oil prices and ho-hum economic data that further dimmed expectations for an interest rate hike next week.
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