5 important things happening in South Africa today

·21 Aug 2017

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

The ANC is expected to move quickly today after it emerged that its Johannesburg headquarters, Chief Albert Luthuli House, will be auctioned to pay a R25 million debt. Sources say an attachment letter will be delivered by the sheriff of the court to Luthuli House on Monday, an action that is set to cause untold embarrassment to the ANC.

Malusi Gigaba has stated that he he will not appeal Friday’s ruling confirming that the Finance Minister is not allowed to interfere in matters between private banks and their private clients. This also means Treasury will pay the costs of the legal action, because the application was brought by Gordhan in his capacity as finance minister.

The tax amnesty for undeclared foreign assets, which the government had hoped would yield billions of rand in additional revenue, has been a flop. The South African Revenue Service (SARS) has so far handled 499 applications only under the special voluntary disclosure programme, which allows taxpayers with undeclared foreign assets to come forward before August 31 to regularise their tax affairs.

In a similar outcome to last year’s visit by Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, the South African government has officially let Grace Mugabe leave the country. “The Minister has made the determination that the conferring of diplomatic immunity is warranted in this particular instance. The department wishes to convey the message that the Minister has agonised over this matter and the decision was not an easy one to make,” said the Department of International Relations and Co-operation (Dirco).

South Africa’s rand clung to recent gains on Friday in subdued trade, drifting toward technical landmarks as an attractive carry trade kept offshore investors interested. On Monday, the Rand was trading at R13.18 to the dollar, R16.97 to the pound and R15.49 to the euro.

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