5 important things happening in South Africa today
·12 Feb 2018
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- ANC president Cyril Ramaphosa has promised that today is the day that the party puts and end to its impasse with president Jacob Zuma, as the NEC sits in one final meeting to discuss Zuma’s future. Some opposition parties, meanwhile, said they would back the ANC if it were to launch a motion of no confidence in Zuma, should he insist on holding onto power.
- Investors are still shorting Capitec’s shares, despite a detailed rebuttal to a Viceroy report claiming that the bank was hiding issues with its loan book. Almost R5 billion worth of shares are on loan from investors – however, Capitec has said that this is not unusual, and investors can hold a short position at any time.
- The PIC has again defended its R5 billion loan to Eskom, saying that it pulled the company from the brink of default, which would have put the PIC’s R95 billion exposure to the embattled power utility at risk. Unions and the public servants association have objected to the loan, which was given without proper consultation.
- Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has again been accused of trying to protect the ANC’s leadership, this time in a report on the Gupta-linked Free State dairy farm project, where her latest report recommended that ANC SG Ace Magashule take disciplinary action against those involved. Opposition parties said Magashule himself is implicated, so the report appears to let him off the hook.
- South Africa’s rand firmed on Friday, recouping losses from the previous session as investors continued to bet on the ruling African National Congress (ANC) unseating scandal-plagued President Jacob Zuma soon. On Monday the rand was at R11.97 to the dollar, R16.60 to the pound and R14.70 to the euro.
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