Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·26 Oct 2023

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

• Delay two-pot retirement system: The National Treasury has proposed delaying the implementation of the two-pot retirement system – which would allow people to access one-third of their pension savings before retirement – by one year until March 2025 to give the investment industry time to implement systems needed to administer the changes. [News24]

• $1 billion loan for SA: The World Bank has approved a $1 billion development policy loan to support electricity market reforms underway in South Africa. “This operation comes at a crucial time for South Africa as it will provide much-needed fiscal and technical support, enabling us to pursue our policy priorities in the energy sector, including easing the electricity crisis in the long term, stimulating private sector engagement and creating jobs in the renewables space,” said deputy director-general for asset and liability management Mmakgoshi Lekhethe. [Engineering News]

• Eskom in a death spiral: Eskom’s biggest challenge is selling less electricity due to load-shedding and South African households and businesses moving to more reliable and affordable alternatives. Experts warn that Eskom is dying as it is losing its paying customers, forcing it to increase its prices and drive even more paying customers away. [Daily Investor]

• R120 billion nursing problem: A new academic study of medical malpractice in South Africa has revealed startling sums to be paid for this from the public purse and highlights alarming shortcomings in the nursing profession. Part of the study reveals that, over 11 years, nursing malpractice has led to three provinces’ health departments being sued for R120 billion. [Financial Mail]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand edged lower against a stronger dollar on Wednesday, taking global direction in the absence of local data. “There are new and meaningful two-way pressures on USD/ZAR, but it seems happy at around or just over the 19.00 level,” said Rand Merchant Bank analysts. On Wednesday (25 October), the rand was trading at R19.20 to the dollar, R23.20 to the pound and R20.25 to the euro. Oil is trading at $89.91 a barrel. [Reuters]