Finance

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Luke Fraser

 ·12 Jul 2023

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

• Investment concerns: South African Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago says South Africa is back in a trap that it escaped decades ago – with interest rates having to rise due to too much borrowing, inadequate savings rates and limited foreign investment into the country. Speaking at the IMF headquarters, Kganyago said that current domestic issues, including the greylisting, load shedding and political instability, have hurt the investment case for South Africa – which had already been affected in the prior years due to state capture and hollowing of state institutions. [City Power]

• Fight cybercrime: The Democratic Alliance (DA) has tabled the Constitution Amendment Bill for the establishment of a new Chapter 9 office of the cyber commissioner to parliament. The party’s Glynnis Breytenbach said that the new body is essential as the government departments can not currently protect individuals’ personal information. The cyber commissioner’s proposed responsibilities include advising, monitoring and establishing cyber security capabilities in the public sector and will be held accountable to Parliament. [EWN]

• Telkom anger: Telkom has drawn the ire of its former CEO Sipho Maseko. Last week, Telkom said that it would not hold further talks over a possible 35% acquisition from a consortium that was led by Maskeo and featured Mautrian Axian Telecom and the Public Investment Corporation (PIC). Maseko said that a combination of Telkom’s digital infrastructure and the digital infrastructure that Axian has could create a Pan-African business made up of towers, data centres, and a fibre network – which would help narrow the digital divide on the continent. [Moneyweb]

• KZN concerns: KwaZulu-Natal Premier Nomusa Dube-Ncube says her office has been too lenient in dealing with transgressions and wrongdoings in the province’s municipalities. This follows a number of municipalities receiving of poor assessments from the Auditor-General, with Dube-Ncube criticising a number of municipalities for approving unfunded budgets – which is illegal as per the Municipal Finance Management Act. She added that any municipalities that try to resist change will face legal challenges. [News24]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand strengthened on Tuesday following improved local manufacturing output and a weak dollar spurred by expectations of an end to rate hikes in the U.S. Data from Stats SA showed the country’s manufacturing output rose by 2.5% year-on-year in May after advancing by a revised 3.6% in April. On Wednesday (12 July), the rand was trading at R18.46/$, R20.36/€, and R23.92/£. Brent crude is trading at $79.30 a barrel. [Nasdaq]