5 important things happening in South Africa today
·13 Apr 2018
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Wealthy South African entrepreneur, Quinton van der Burgh, has been selected to temporarily take control of Gupta-owned mining assets in a bid to rescue the businesses. Van der Burgh’s company tried to buy parts of the Optimum coal mine’s operations over the past few years, but the deals were abandoned. Now he will have 12 months to turn things around at the mines. [Bloomberg]
- New court rulings show that South African taxpayers have grounds to have tax assessments reversed when the SARS fails to follow due process. The cases involved situations where SARS did not follow the Tax Administration Act tot he letter, and subsequently had unfair tax assessments deemed ‘impermissible’. [Moneyweb]
- Former finance minister Trevor Manuel has confirmed that he has been subpoenaed in the so-called ‘SARS rogue unit’ case – however, only as a witness, not as an implicated person. Manuel has been called as a witness for the prosecution, but said that does not mean he endorses the charges. Former SARS executives are being dragged to court on the same charges the state failed to prosecute Pravin Gordhan for in 2016. [eNCA]
- Embattled DA mayor of Cape Town Patricia de Lille could defect to another party, analysts say, following her appearance as a guest speaker at an EFF memorial for ANC stalwart, Winnie Madikizela-Mandela this week. The DA has been trying to boot de Lille from her position, but has been met with resistance. Analysts say the seasoned politician is unlikely to retire if they succeed. [EWN]
- South Africa’s rand weakened against a stronger dollar on Thursday as rising tensions between Russia and the United States over Syria curbed risk appetite, while stocks rose led by banks. On Friday the rand was at R12.04 to the dollar, R17.13 to the pound and R14.84 to the euro.
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