5 important things happening in South Africa today
·15 Jun 2018
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- South Africa could be heading for another technical recession, according to economist Mike Schussler. Looking at the latest transactional data as at May 2018, it shows a 2% decline. If this translates to a GDP decline for the second quarter of the year, that would put the country in recession. There was a heightened possibility of this happening, he said. [News24]
- Eskom confirmed that threats and intimidation by unions were the cause of the constrained power supply which led to two hours of load shedding. The power utility said that unions blocked operations at power stations, while threatening the families and children of workers. The unions have said that this is just the beginning. [City Press]
- Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan has dug into suspended SARS commissioner Tom Moyane, calling him a ‘serial lawbreaker’. Gordhan submitted an affidavit in the disciplinary case against Moyane, saying that his continued presence at SARS threatens the service’s morality and credibility. [IOL]
- Austrian property and retail investor Rene Benko has reached a deal to buy one of Steinhoff’s businesses, saving it from bankruptcy. The company, Kika/Leiner, was reportedly acquired for 500 million euros, with the company receiving an injection of 100 million euros. [Reuters]
- South Africa’s rand was weaker on Thursday after disappointing mining data and as struggling state power firm Eskom started controlled electricity outages because of a wage dispute with labour unions. On Friday the rand was trading at R13.44 to the dollar, R17.81 to the pound and R15.55 to the euro.
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