5 important things happening in South Africa today
·2 May 2018
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- The US government has decided not to grant South Africa an exemption on its increased steel and aluminium tariffs. The Department of Trade and Industry issued a statement expressing its disappointment on the matter on Monday, following a teleconference between minister Rob Davies and US ambassador CJ Mahoney.
- Icasa has explained that it is the National Consumer Commission’s (NCC) job to force the mobile phone industry to allow subscribers to make use of pre-paid data for up to three years. But the NCC doesn’t agree and the impasse could mean further delays in the proposals implementation.
- President Cyril Ramaphosa has reiterated that the minimum wage of R3,500 a month is just a stepping stone and will increase over time. Speaking at a Worker’s Day rally in Port Elizabeth, Ramaphosa acknowledged that while the R20 per hour national minimum wage is not a living wage, work is already underway to ensure that a living wage is achieved.
- Wealthy South Africans may soon become the next target of international kidnapping syndicates. This is according to research by global kidnapping monitoring organisation, Red24, which says that 34 foreigners living in South Africa have been kidnapped for ransom since 2016.
- The rand has continued its slide against the dollar, with the currency now sitting at a four-month low against the greenback. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R12.66 to the dollar, R17.22 to the pound and R15.19 to the euro.
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