5 important things happening in South Africa today

·14 Jun 2022

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

JSE takes a hit: The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) is down 10% since the start of the year, while the rand lost close to 4% on Monday. These losses are, however, relatively contained compared to other global markets. By comparison, the broad-based S&P 500 index has lost 21% since January. South African investment experts praised the local markets’ resilience and said that domestic equities are still trading at attractive discounts. [News24]

Comair liquidation: The South African aviation company Comair with assets worth at least R3.5 billion, has lodged a court application to wind down the company after being unable to secure the R500 million it needed to stay afloat. The company’s business rescue practitioners said there is an urgent need to place its assets under a court-appointed liquidator to preserve their value for creditors. [BusinessLive]

Health regulation contention: Emails have surfaced in court showing that the health department views groups opposed to far-reaching changes to health regulations as ‘sabotaging, instigating chaos or terrorism against the state’. Over 95% of 300,000 public comments collected by public participation group DearSA said they were against the changes which would provide the department with vast powers to contain diseases such as Covid-19. [Moneyweb]

Infighting: An internal political campaign is showing deep fractures within the ANC, with some factions drawing lines between president Cyril Ramaphosa and his opponents. Following criminal charges laid by Zuma ally Arthur Fraser, ally to suspended-general Ace Magashule, Carl Niehaus, has now also laid a criminal complaint against Ramaphosa. Attempts are being made to turn the party’s upcoming policy conference into a national general council, where new leadership can be elected. [EWN]

Markets: The South African rand fell on Monday as the safe-haven dollar rose, supported by fears of global economic slowdown and bets on steep interest rate hikes by the US Federal Reserve. Economists said that an expected peak in US inflation did not occur as markets hoped for, thus raising investors’ risk aversion levels. The rand is currently trading at R16.02/$, R16.69/€ and R19.50/£. [Nasdaq]

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