Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·1 Aug 2023

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

• A win for Eskom: Renewable energy company G7 has failed to interdict Eskom from applying its new grid access rules, which would have stalled both private and public commissioned projects coming onto the grid. However, in part B of the case – which is still to be argued – G7 said that Eskom doesn’t have the authority to change the grid access rules, and they make it more difficult and expensive for private projects to get grid access. [News24]

• Stage 8 load shedding warning: Professor Hartmut Winkler said South Africa is not out of the woods yet with regard to potential higher load-shedding stages. “It might still happen that we will be forced to go to stage 8 load-shedding,” he said. Eskom has performed better than expected during winter so far, but their fleets are still highly unreliable. [Daily Investor]

• D-Day for blue light bullies: The protectors of Deputy President Paul Mashatile are set to know their fate Today (1 August) as to whether they will be released on bail or continue to remain in custody. The men are charged with several counts of assault, causing malicious damage to property and pointing a firearm after a viral video showed them assaulting other motorists on the N1 Highway in Johannesburg. [EWN]

• Joburg credit downgrade: GCR Ratings, an affiliate of Moody’s Investors Service, has downgraded the City of Johannesburg’s credit rating and revised its outlook from stable to negative, citing subdued income growth, increasing expenditures, and relatively weak collection rates. This means that the city’s ability to pay back its loans has been weakened. [Business Day]

• Markets:  The South African rand slipped on Monday after a strong July performance on the back of weak Chinese manufacturing data that analysts say has put pressure on emerging market currencies. On Tuesday (1 August), the rand was trading at R17.93/$, R19.70/€, and R23.00/£. Brent crude is trading at $85.13 a barrel. [Reuters]