Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·8 Jul 2022

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

• National strike: The South African Federation of Trade Unions (Saftu) has confirmed plans to embark on a national day of strike action in August to protest the high cost of living in the country. Saftu says it has embarked on mobilising all affiliated unions and those outside the federation to unify against what they say is the government’s failure to protect the poor, with hundreds of thousands of people expected to join the mass action. [eNCA]

• Credit ratings: Ratings agency Fitch has affirmed South Africa’s long-term foreign and local currency debt ratings at BB-, maintaining a stable outlook. Despite ongoing load shedding and rising inflation, Fitch said the government’s debt trajectory was lower than previously anticipated, while several key credit metrics have improved. [EWN]

• Road blockages: Government has moved rapidly against trucker protests in Mpumalanga and KwaZulu-Natal this week over concerns the violence could spill over into other areas, as was the case in July 2021. A senior adviser to president Cyril Ramaphosa said that the government is determined to bring ‘economic banditry’ to a stop and is confident that the violent unrest that engulfed South Africa in July 2021 will not occur again. [BusinessDay]

• Load shedding crisis: Government is working overtime to ensure bid windows 6 and 7 get off the ground as fast as possible to connect more power to the grid, tweaking the current round to allow more bidders to participate. Unlike previous years, grid availability is now an issue – with capacity mainly available in Mpumalanga and Limpopo. There are also global supply chain challenges that can impact bidders’ ability to secure components. [News24]

• Markets: The rand recovered slightly on Thursday after hitting a 21-month low a day earlier as traders awaited key U.S. data that could give clues to the pace of inflation amid fears of a global recession. High-yielding, but riskier assets such as the rand are relatively unattractive to investors against the safe-haven dollar at times of economic uncertainty. The rand is currently trading at R16.73/$, R16.99/€ and R20.12/£. The price of Brent crude oil today is $105/barrel. [Reuters]