5 important things happening in South Africa today
·7 Nov 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Disgraced former Eskom CEO Brian Molefe says that the parliamentary enquiry into Eskom is not fair, because he hasn’t been given the chance to state his case. In an interview with Business Day, Molefe said he had to sit and watch while his name was dragged through the mud, with no chance to share his side of the story. Parliament said all involved would be called to testify in time.
- Standard Bank’s fight against collusion charges brought by the Competition Commission has hit a hurdle, with the bank being denied access to the evidence the commission has against it. The Competition Tribunal ruled against Standard Bank’s request for access, saying the group is not yet entitled to it. Standard Bank is among 17 finance groups charged with rand-fixing.
- President Jacob Zuma may be about to go rogue on higher education, with a report by The Times that the president is set to announce free tertiary education across the board – with departments being forced to cut budgets to find R40 billion for the project. This would go against National Treasury and other government officials’ positions that free education is not feasible.
- Deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has hit back at those criticising him for announcing his ‘slate’ for the ANC presidency. Critics within the party lambasted Ramaphosa for playing slate politics and removing power from the branches. However the DP said that his slate was an ‘ideal’, not prescriptive, and the branches are free to vote for whoever they like.
- South African stocks ended higher on Monday with Lonmin in the spotlight amid growing concerns about the future of the platinum miner. The rand was little changed. On Tuesday the rand was trading at R14.11 to the dollar, R18.58 to the pound and R16.38 to the euro.
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