5 important things happening in South Africa today
·29 Nov 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- President Jacob Zuma is worried about the ANC’s elective conference collapsing, and has appealed to leaders in the party’s branches to reign in their delegates. Zuma had previously explicitly backed Nkosazana Dlamini- Zuma to replace him, but is now attempting to be more of a unifying figure in the lead up to the December conference.
- SARS commissioner Tom Moyane has shrugged off any responsibility for possible criminal conduct by his second in command, Jonas Makwakwa, saying it’s not his problem. Makwakwa returned to work after being suspended over R1.7 million worth of dodgy deposits being flagged by the FIC. Moyane said it was up to the Hawks to investigate criminality – internal SARS processes cleared him.
- Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has admitted that president Jacob Zuma convinced her to drop an instruction for him to establish a judicial commission of inquiry in the Absa/Bankorp matter, after he said it would face the same challenges as her predecessor’s instruction on the state capture matter. Absa and SARB want the PP’s report set aside.
- Parliament is seeking to introduce new regulations that will fine lenders R1 million or 10% of their annual turnover if they are found to be lending money recklessly. The committee said that penalties are needed to curb the rising level of debt in the country, which has hit R1.72 trillion.
- South Africa’s rand steadied against the dollar on Tuesday, holding near a five-week high touched in the previous session after the country avoided a double downgrade of its local currency debt. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R13.69 to the dollar, R18.30 to the pound and R16.22 to the euro.
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