5 important things happening in South Africa today

·4 Aug 2017

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

South African Airways has posted a massive loss for the first quarter of 2017, reporting a loss of R1.46 billion, exceeding its target loss by 80%. The failing airline appointed former Vodacom executive Vuyani Jurana as its new CEO, who faces the mammoth task of turning the airline around. It has R6.7 billion in debt maturing at the end of September.

The South African mining sector is going to lay off over 20,000 employees in the industry, after several companies have announced plans to cut their workforce. The local mining industry has lost 70,000 jobs in the past five years, according to the Chamber of Mines. South Africa’s Department of Minerals withdrew plans to impose a moratorium on granting and renewing mining rights and will explore other measures to ensure companies are compliant with the industry charter.

The South African Reserve Bank has launched its second attack on Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane’s fidning that Absa owed it R1.125 billion, saying that the banking group had already paid that amount in the past. The SARB said that Mkhwebane was feeding a wild goose chase that was launched by the CIEX report, and was long put to bed by an independent investigation into the matter.

Former finance minister Pravin Gordhan says there is a trend in government to force people who want to stop corruption away from their positions. Speaking at the Daily Maverick’s The Gathering, Gordhan said that as soon as someone is seen as block, ‘allegations’ of wrongdoing emerge, and those people are soon pushed away from their positions.

South Africa’s rand slipped to three-week lows against the dollar on Thursday, erasing most of the previous session’s gains in a cautious market as a vote on a motion of no-confidence against President Jacob Zuma drew closer. On Friday the rand was trading at R13.38 to the dollar, R17.58 to the pound and R15.89 to the euro.

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