Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·2 Aug 2023

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

• Food producer headache: The proposed diesel refund scheme extended to the manufacturers of foodstuffs in the February budget to lessen the cost of load shedding is still not up and running. The final amendments to the Customs and Excise Act, which will enable these manufacturers to claim refunds, were only published in the middle of July, meaning producers still have to wait for some time. [MoneyWeb]

• Prices on the rise: The vast majority of South African companies are raising the prices of goods and services to mitigate against economic challenges in the next 12 months. Data from PwC’s 26th Global CEO survey showed that 71% of South African CEOs said their companies are already raising prices, while 15% are considering price increases. [Daily Investor]

• Blue light bullies get bail: On Tuesday (1 August), presiding officer magistrate Hleziphi Mkhasibe granted each of the eight men – who were filmed last month beating motorists up on the side of the highway – R10,000 bail. Despite granting them bail, Mkhasibe said there were no justifiable reasons for their actions, and the matter has been postponed to 27 September 2023 for further investigations. [EWN]

• Call to cut fuel levies: Trade union federation Fedusa says focus should be placed on the restructuring of the fuel levy to lessen the burden on motorists and households. The total cost of the two main levies paid for fuel stood at R6.14 (R3.96 for the general fuel levy and R2.18 for the Road Accident Fund levy), which is levied on every litre of fuel sold in the country. The union argued that there’s enough evidence to prove South Africans are not coping with the high costs of living in the country, and the government can no longer step aside and blame the increases on the rand and oil prices while making no adjustments to their fuel tax collections. [Times Live]

• Markets: The South African rand weakened on Tuesday, losing steam after a strong performance in July, as global risk-off sentiment increased. “There was no particular news event that caused the rand to weaken… I think this is just a normal correction,” said Wayne McCurrie, portfolio manager at First National Bank. On Wednesday (2 August), the rand was trading at R18.34/$, R20.17/€, and R23.35/£. Brent crude is trading at $85.62 a barrel. [Reuters]