5 important things happening in South Africa today
·17 May 2019
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- The Statistician General has identified a handful of voting districts where double voting may have taken place in the 2019 national election, however the impact on the outcome would have been negligible. An audit of the districts is underway, with over 20 people arrested so far. [TimesLive]
- The EFF wants to govern Tshwane, and says that in terms of its power-sharing deal with the DA after the municipal elections, it’s entitled to govern at least on the metros it helped the DA topple the ANC in. At the time, the EFF said it did not want to govern, but now it wants a mayor in the country’s capital. [ENCA]
- The South African Post Office says its regulatory hurdles to launch a full banking service are now past, as the group gets set to launch Postbank. The banks was expected to launch around the same time as other new players like Discovery Bank and Bank Zero (2H2019) but no new launch window has been set. [Business Day]
- MTN has listed on the Nigerian Stock Exchange and has already become the second largest listed company in the country. The group has a market cap of $5.1 billion and saw its stock price surge 10% on the first day of trade. [702]
- South Africa’s rand firmed modestly and stocks rose on Thursday, shaking off worries about local growth and trade tensions abroad as investors bet on economic reform with President Cyril Ramaphosa preparing to name a new cabinet. On Friday the rand was at R14.31 to the dollar, R18.31 to the pound and R16.00 to the euro.