Finance

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·23 Mar 2017

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

• Western Cape premier Helen Zille will face a debate over her controversial tweets about the legacy of colonialism next Tuesday, as the ANC in the province seeks her removal, and the DA considers investigating her. Zille will meet with the DA’s legal head who will decide whether an investigation goes ahead, while provincial legislature speaker, Sharna Fernandez, has confirmed that a priority debate over the tweets will take place next week.

• Pick n Pay has announced that it will be spending R500 million to keep prices down on certain, essential products. Despite a positive move in the inflation figure for February 2017, prices are still too high. Pick n Pay said it intends on cutting the everyday prices of over 1,300 essential items, and putting more than 1,000 items on special with this investment.

• South African Airways says it is not following US president Donald Trump’s ban of electronics bigger than a smartphone, on flights entering the US. Trump signed off on the ban, which affects flights from Middle East and North African countries. South Africans travelling to the US via any of these countries will have to take note of the ban. Emirates, which operates in and out of South Africa is affected by the ban.

• The UK is reeling from what has been described as the worst terror attack in decades, where 5 people have been killed, and over 40 injured in an attack new Westminster Abbey. No South Africans have been listed as injured in the attack, with many using Facebook’s ‘marked as safe’ feature to let loved ones know they are okay. A South African journalist at the scene described the area around the abbey – which is usually bustling with tourists – as a ghost town after the attack.

• South Africa’s rand strengthened on Wednesday as local data supported the currency against a weakening dollar while stocks fell in line with global markets amid risk-off sentiment. On Thursday, the rand’s rally continued, with the currency heading toward the R12.50 mark, trading at R12.55 to the dollar, R15.68 to the pound and R13.55 to the euro.