Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·3 Jun 2022

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

• Early tax season: South Africa’s annual tax filing season will reportedly start earlier than expected. According to a spokesperson for the South African Revenue Service (SARS), the filing date has been brought forward and now begins on 1 July. Taxpayers who submit their tax returns manually or at a branch office have until 24 October to do so. An official announcement on tax dates is expected today. [Moneyweb]

• Flight price hikes: The Airlines Association of Southern Africa said its members are not deliberately hiking ticket prices in the wake of Comair grounding British Airways and Kulula flights. The association said that passengers are seeing an increase due to the nature of airline tickets, whereby booking closer to the flight date is more expensive than flights booked months in advance. [ENCA]

• Billions owed: Residual Debt Services (RDS), the ‘bad bank’ that emerged from the split of African Bank Limited when it went into curatorship in 2014, has paid back R4.35 billion to creditors. Despite this, creditors lower in priority will have to wait longer to see their money as there is still R9.56 billion owed. [News24]

• $4 million cash stash: The Presidency has confirmed that a robbery occurred on Cyril Ramaphosa’s Limpopo farm in February 2020 and denied wrongdoing on his part. This follows the former State Security Agency head Arthur Fraser opening a criminal case against the president, claiming that Ramaphosa had concealed the incident. The Presidency has raised suspicion as to why Fraser went public close to two years later and dismissed the allegations of corruption as a smear campaign against him. [EWN] [BusinessLive]

• Markets: The South African rand firmed in early trade on Thursday as the US dollar held its gains against major peers. The rand followed an upward trend in global markets after sky-high oil prices eased on a report that Saudi Arabia was ready to pump more oil if Russian output fell. The rand is currently trading at R15.46/$, R16.62/€ and R19.44/£. [Nasdaq]