5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·20 Sep 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting the country today:
- South African universities look like they are set to experience a repeat of the 2015 #FeesMustFall protests on campuses across the country as students reject the fee hike proposal announced by higher education minister Blade Nzimande on Monday. Nzimande left room for universities to hike fees by as much as 8% in 2017 – students want 0%, and are preparing to shut down campuses,nationally, in protest.
- While the department of communications reads over a Supreme Court ruling that backs up the order for COO Hlaudi Motsoeneng to step down – the controversial businessman is hard at work ignoring and bypassing the essence of the entire case, by showing up for work at the broadcaster “in another role”. Motsoeneng is exploiting an apparent loophole by interpreting the ruling as only applying to his continued employment at the SABC as COO.
- Former Constitutional Court Judge Zak Yacoob has joined the growing chorus of voices openly criticising president Jacob Zuma, saying that the president was dishonest, disrespectful, and manipulating the country to benefit and protect himself. Politicians – most notably many former ANC stalwarts – and business leaders have been growing more vocal in their anti-Zuma sentiment over the past few months, with many being unafraid in urging the ANC to give him the chop.
- Eskom has extended the deadline on public comments for its application of licences to install nuclear sites in Thyspunt and Duynefontyn on the south coast. The initial deadline was 29 August, which civil group Outa claimed the power utility tried to sneak past citizens by hiding the dates in a provincial gazette. The deadline for comment has been extended to 19 October.
- South Africa’s rand firmed on Monday, gaining alongside fellow emerging currencies as the dollar stumbled on expectations that the U.S. Federal Reserve will not raise interest rates this week. In overnight trade, the rand briefly broke through the R14 to the dollar level. On Tuesday, the rand was back up at R14.00 to the dollar and R18.25 to the pound and R15.64 to the euro.
In other news: FNB has warned consumers that they should expect meat prices to get more expensive in December, with a seasonal price increase of between R3.4 and R5.7 per kilogram for Class A beef, and R5.6 and R9.4 per kilogram more for Class A lamb. Pork prices could see a drop, while poultry is expected to remain stable.
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