Finance

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·2 May 2017

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

• President Jacob Zuma and his supporters were left red-faced after Cosatu members and workers booed and heckled them during their speeches at the trade federations May Day rally yesterday. Cosatu leaders were forced to call off the speeches after the crowd chanted “Zuma must go” while the president was speaking. Zuma left the event soon after.

• Despite the ANC’s alliance members, the SACP and Cosatu, saying in no uncertain terms that president Jacob Zuma and the influence of the Gupta family are their primary concerns with the current state of the country – ANC chairperson Baleka Mbete says that it’s actually poverty and unemployment that they’re worried about. Mbete also denied that there was any ANC succession race happening.

• Meanwhile, former ANC treasurer Mathews Phosa says that he has formally accepted a nomination from the Western Cape branch of the ANC to run to be the next president of the ANC. He will be going up against deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa and president Zuma’s preffered candidate, Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who have already unofficially started campaigning for the succession race.

• Finance minister Malusi Gigaba’s new advisor, Chris Malikane, is in hot water for suggesting that people will take up arms and force South Africa into a Zimbabwe situation, if the ANC is not allowed to change the Constitution to make nationalisation and ‘radical transformation’ goals legal. Gigaba is facing pressure to fire Malikane, especially after the minister ordered him to not speak publicly again after previous controversial statements.

• South African markets were closed for the long weekend due to Worker’s Day on Monday. On Tuesday the rand opened up weaker, but relatively stable in trade against the US dollar, sticking to levels seen last week Friday. The rand was trading at R13.35 to the dollar, R17.21 to the pound and R14.57 to the euro.