5 important things happening in South Africa today
·5 Feb 2019
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- A memo sent by 5 foreign powers to South Africa, warning of corruption, is still drawing responses from government officials – but none actually addressing its contents. The latest is the ANC slamming the memo, accusing the 5 nations of being interfering imperialist forces. [Times Live]
- Government’s National Health Insurance plans could lead to the loss of over 130,000 jobs in the private healthcare sector, the Health Association of South Africa says. The group said in two scenarios under the NHI the state will either refuse to buy services from the private sector, or would cap prices 23% lower. In both cases severe job losses occur. [Business Day]
- Eskom CEO Phakamani Hadebe said that if the power utility keeps tariffs low, then government should consider increasing its capitalisation of the group. Eskom projects a R20 billion loss for 2018/19, and another R20 billion loss for 2019/20 – even with the tariff increases. [Reuters, News24]
- The high risk of cryptocurrencies has been brought to light after a crypto founder unexpectedly died, leaving 115,000 clients unable to access over R2.5 billion in funds – as he was the only one who had the password to access the holdings. [IOL]
- South Africa’s rand eased on Monday as a strong dollar and US Treasury yields holding recent gains put pressure on emerging market currencies, while stocks also edged lower. On Tuesday the rand was at R13.40 to the dollar, R17.46 to the pound and R15.32 to the euro.
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