5 Things

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Seth Thorne

 ·3 Jul 2024

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

• Sibanye culls over 11,000 jobs in 18 months: With the mining sector in the country continuing to suffer, Sibanye-Stillwater has cut over 11,000 jobs in 18 months, reducing its South African workforce from 81,500 to just over 70,000, a 14% decrease. Its CEO, Neal Froneman, said that this is part of a restructuring to boost sustainability and profitability. [Business Day]

• Gauteng Cabinet stalemate: South Africa’s economic powerhouse, Gauteng, is the only province that has not yet formed a government. The negotiations stalemate is between the ANC (28/80 seats in the legislature) and DA (22/80 seats), with the DA accusing the ANC of ignoring the proportionality clause in their signed statement of intent. The DA says that the ANC in Gauteng is negotiating “in bad faith” as they wanted to keep 8/11 Gauteng cabinet positions (including the Premier) and give 3/11 to the DA, despite their vote share not being too far off. [News24]

• National Executive to be sworn in: The newly appointed National Executive, which will consist of the new Deputy President, Cabinet Ministers, and Deputy Ministers, will be sworn in today by Chief Justice Raymond Zondo. The 77-person National Executive (excluding Premiers) marks the start of the country’s 7th democratic administration. [Presidency]

• eThekwini pays millions for a handful of useless toilets and showers: The City of eThekwini has spent over R9 million on renting a dozen toilets and showers for homeless shelters set up during Covid-19, but many are non-functional. Despite an extension by Safer Cities program head, who was satisfied with the provider Msaly Trading, a 2023 investigation found the facilities in poor condition and recommended disciplinary action against Xaba. Nevertheless, Msaly Trading reports that the City is still paying R250,000 a month. [GroundUp]

• Markets: The rand extended its losses on Tuesday after a turbulent start to the week as markets waited to see how the new government of national unity (GNU) would approach economic reform following the formation of the cabinet. On Wednesday (3 July), the rand was trading at R18.60 to the dollar, R23.58 to the pound, and R19.84 to the euro. Oil is trading at $86.83 a barrel. [Reuters]