5 important things happening in South Africa today
·28 Mar 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- South Africa continues to feel the effects of president Jacob Zuma’s decision to recall finance minister Pravin Gordhan from an investor roadshow in the UK with many anticipating a cabinet reshuffle, and still no explanation from the presidency. The rand weakened the most since November 2016, dropping 3.1% against the dollar, with analysts saying worse is still to come if the reshuffle rumours prove true, and Gordhan is given the boot.
- Not content with vague recalls, president Jacob Zuma has also joined the ongoing court battle between Gordhan and the Gupta family, which is set to be heard today and tomorrow. Zuma wants to join as an interested party, saying that Standard Bank’s application that the court rule that no member of the country’s cabinet or executive can interfere with customer-client relations directly affects him, so he needs to have his say.
- Struggle veteran Ahmed Kathrada has passed away‚ his foundation announced on Tuesday morning. He was 87 years old. The struggle hero had been suffering from health problems in the last while and passed away after experiencing post-operation complications, including pneumonia on both the lungs.
- Fear and panic is rocking the DA’s coalition in Nelson Mandela Bay after an apparently fake media statement was issued saying big changes are coming to the structure of the coalition in the metro. Mayor Athol Trollip has denied that the statement came from the DA as indicated, but has been unable to shake talk of disagreements and conflict between coalition partners in the metro.
- The rand was the poorest performing major currency on Monday after the Gordhan recall fiasco, which pushed the currency to a low of R12.80 against the dollar. On Tuesday, the rand was still in decline, trading even lower at R12.84 to the dollar, R13.95 to the euro and R16.13 to the pound.
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