5 important things happening in South Africa today
·18 Dec 2023
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Visa backlog continues: Tens of thousands of foreign executives, engineers and other key workers have endured a year-long wait for South African visas that business groups say is costing investment and threatening the country’s position as a continental hub. Work visas now take around 48 weeks while secretary general of the Italian-South African Chamber of Trade and Industries Pamina Bohrer said there are many cases of people who have been waiting for more than a year. [News24]
- Eskom’s growing municipal problem: Debt owed by municipalities to Eskom has continued to grow in the first half of the utility’s 2024 financial year to R70 billion from R58.5 billion at the end of March. In 2018, invoiced municipal debt totalled a mere R13.6 billion. This has grown to R70 billion at the end of September 2023, a 32% increase from the year before. [Daily Investor]
- Major holiday route traffic warning: The Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) said peak congestion on major routes from Gauteng, Durban, and the Western Cape is expected from Friday (22 December) to Tuesday (2 January 2024) – urging motorists to be cautious and to plan trips carefully. At least 32,767 motorists from Cape Town passed through the Huguenot Tunnel, while 20,375 cars entered Cape Town last week between Thursday and Saturday alone. [TimesLive]
- Load shedding suspended: Power utility Eskom says that it is forecasting no load shedding for the week ahead. Load shedding will be suspended until Friday, 22 December, 16h00 at least, it said.[BusinessTech]
- Markets: South Africa’s rand gained against the softer dollar after data showed producer inflation fell more than expected in November and formal sector jobs rose in the third quarter. On Monday (18 December), the rand was trading at R18.57 to the dollar, R23.49 to the pound and R20.25 to the euro. Oil is trading at $74.58 a barrel. [Nasdaq]
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