Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·18 Jul 2017

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

• President Jacob Zuma is sticking to his ‘radical economic transformation’ and ‘white monopoly capital’ rhetoric as civil groups including South African businesses and stalwarts of the party meet to repeat the calls for the president to step down, and for the ANC to elect new leadership with integrity. Zuma was addressing his key supporters – the ANC Youth League – while everyone else was at a press briefing ahead of a civil society conference to be held today.

• German software group SAP has named the law firm that will handle the external investigation into allegations of it local branch paying kickbacks to the Gupta family through some questionable contracts. The company named Chicago-based international law firm Baker McKenzie as the ones to conduct the investigation. SAP previously faced criticism for refusing to name the investigators, amid heightened scrutiny.

• Vodacom has been find the equivalent of R5.5 million in Tanzania for selling SIM cards to people who haven’t produced the necessary identification. The Tanzanian authorities said that it was reckless and a huge security risk for Vodacom to sell SIMs without registering the appropriate documents, as criminals have moved to digital and mobile to do crime. MTN was fined for similar practices in Nigeria.

• Another major international company is walking away from doing business with the Gupta family, as independent oil trader, Vitol Group, has called off talks to buy a stake in the Richards Bay Coal Terminal from a company controlled by South Africa’s Gupta family. Gupta businesses have become poison to other companies, with banks, financial service firms, PR groups and other groups distancing themselves from them, amid the state capture scandal.

• South Africa’s rand reached its firmest level in two weeks as the suspension of new mining laws and weak data from the United States pushed the currency past crucial technical levels and lured back investors hungry for high yields. On Tuesday the rand was trading at R12.90 to the dollar, R16.89 to the pound and R14.86 to the euro.