5 important things happening in South Africa today
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
Stage 6 load shedding indefinitely: Power utility Eskom has announced that load shedding will be escalated to stage 6 indefinitely. With the increase in generation planned maintenance, as well as the loss of a further two generation units on Monday, the utility said that Stage 6 load shedding will be implemented from 05h00 on Tuesday until further notice. [BusinessTech]
Food inflation threat: AVI, the owner of Bakers and Five Roses, is concerned that further rand volatility and load shedding will bring more inflationary pain. Load shedding, in particular, has been a big cost driver for food producers. AVI noted that selling price increases helped the group lift revenue 7.8% to R14.9 billion, though operating profit grew 6.9% to R2.7 billion as power cuts cost the producer R58 million in its year to end-June. “Load shedding is not a trivial issue; it’s a big problem. Some things have to fundamentally change for the inflation rate to come back,” said AVI CEO Simon Crutchley. [News24]
Cadre deployment under fire: The Supreme Court of Appeal has rejected the ANC’s attempt to appeal against a court victory for the DA over the practice of cadre deployment. Unless the ruling party tries to approach the Constitutional Court, it now has five days to hand over its cadre deployment records, which will make public the cadre deployment committee meeting minutes and internal appointments. Cyril Ramaphosa chaired the committee from 2013, and depending on what these earlier minutes show, they could be a grave political embarrassment for Ramaphosa. [Daily Maverick]
Big blow to Durban: Fed-up ratepayers from the dysfunctional eThekwini metro are withholding R1.2 million in rates and taxes in an unprecedented pushback against high tariff hikes. The spokesperson for the KwaZulu-Natal ANC, Mafika Mndebele, told News24 the boycotts were “illegal” and “will have consequences”. The metro versus ratepayers’ matter has been set for 1 November. [News24]
Markets: The South African rand gained slightly in early trade on Monday, ahead of a week of data releases which include the country’s second-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and current account. “The economy held up better than expected in Q2, as load-shedding was less severe than in Q1,” said Nedbank’s Group Economic Unit in a research note. On Tuesday (5 September), the rand was trading at R19.15/USD, R20.67/EUR and R24.18/GBP. Oil is trading at $88.91 a barrel. (Nasdaq)
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