5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·5 Jan 2017
Here is what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Thousands of matriculants are rushing to schools and newspaper sellers to get their 2016 matric results, which saw the class of 2016 buck the trend of the last two years and raise the overall pass rate to 72.5%. While cause for much cheer, some have doused the flames of celebration by noting that, with such a high dropout rate, the ‘real’ pass rate in the country is closer to 45% in reality.
- Worker union Numsa has slammed the ANC in a scathing 6-page press release regarding the party’s 105th birthday celebrations, saying that South Africans won’t get anything new from the ruling party, and accusing it of abandoning the working class. The union said that there is nothing to celebrate in the ANC, which has lost its morals, has abandoned reform, and continues to defend white capital and white control of the economy.
- Political analysts are predicting a turbulent year for the ANC, with the party’s elective conference featuring as a prominent battle ground at the end of the year. Leading up to the conference, South Africans should expect Parliament to play host to a number of heated conflicts between warring factions within the ANC – with president Jacob Zuma being a prime target for those who would see his supporters fall.
- As fires continue to tear through the Western Cape, a 300 year old vineyard owned by Anglo American is just one of the areas that have been severely damaged by the flames. The Vergelegen wine farm buildings have luckily escaped the blaze, but large sections of land around the farm – about 40% of the land – have been damaged. Firefighters continue to battle the Somerset West fires.
- South Africa’s rand was slightly firmer in thin trade on Wednesday and seen stuck in a range ahead of U.S. employment data on Friday. On Thursday, the rand was trading at R13.51 to the dollar, R16.69 to the pound and R14.28 to the euro.
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