5 important things happening in South Africa today
·1 Nov 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- A former Trillian employee turned whistleblower says that the group’s CEO, Eric Wood, made a fortune from the axing of former finance minister Nhlanhla Nene, and that he knew about the shock move at least 6 weeks before it happened. She also outlined how Gupta partner Salim Essa was instrumental in securing government contracts for the group.
- President Jacob Zuma has promised to establish a judicial commission of enquiry into state capture within 30 days of the court ruling on his current challenge to the public protector’s report on the matter. However, the president stated directly that he would not be part of the enquiry. Zuma is the key figure in the state capture saga, being accused of allowing the Guptas to influence political appointments.
- Imperial Holdings is the latest big company to join the South African banks and others in putting auditing firm KPMG on notice, saying that it will cut ties to the auditor if the current investigations into its relationship with Gupta companies and irregular conduct around SARS turn up adverse findings.
- Social development minister Bathabile Dlamini has challenged critics to prove that she’s getting kickbacks in the ongoing social grants crisis, as her department misses deadline upon deadline in the bid to resolve the issue. Some have accused Dlamini of orchestrating the chaos to ensure there is a tender process where she can benefit from any resulting contract.
- South Africa’s rand retreated on Tuesday, erasing the previous session’s gains despite the country showing an eighth consecutive monthly trade surplus, as dollar resumed its rally following positive employment data and gold prices stumbled. On Wednesday, the rand was at R14.15 to the dollar, R18.78 to the pound and R16.45 to the euro.
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