US coming with a list of demands for South Africa, and Cape Town’s R180 million security wall under fire
The South African rand gained against the US dollar on Monday as prices of precious metals, a key export, rose on global markets.
The rand was up about 0.4% from Friday’s close at R16.71 to the dollar. The unit is currently trading around R16.69.
Johannesburg-listed stocks also firmed, with the main bourse’s Top-40 Index last up 1.3%.
Gold hit a record high on Monday, riding on growing expectations of further US interest rate cuts and strong safe-haven demand. Platinum, meanwhile, touched its highest in more than 17 years.
“We could see a test of the R16.70/$ level again on the back of a surge in precious metals prices and strong exporter inflows,” Wichard Cilliers, head of market risk at TreasuryONE, said in a research note.
The rand has had a strong year, rising more than 12% against the dollar thanks to South Africa’s improved fiscal performance, success in containing inflation and soaring precious metals prices.
As the year draws to a close, analysts don’t expect any shocks and remain optimistic that the rand will continue to rally.
South Africa’s economic prospects for 2026 are also on a positive trajectory; however, issues with US trade and other persistent local problems, such as high unemployment, poor government policy, and sluggish growth, remain sobering factors.
2026 will also be another election year, which will test political parties in the Government of National Unity and whether they can co-govern while actively working to undermine each other at the polls.
5 important things happening in South Africa today
US ‘demands’ for South Africa: Research Associate at the Centre for Risk Analysis, Ofentse Donald Davhie, believes that the appointment of new US ambassador to South Africa, Brent Bozel, is likely to lead to an ideological clash between the US and the ANC. However, despite the difference, he said that Bozel is likely to take a pragmatic approach and find a middle ground. However, this does come with a push for the US ‘wish list’ of demands for South Africa, such as withdrawing the ICJ case against Israel, exempting US businesses from BEE regulations, protecting property rights, and distancing South Africa from its BRICS partners, particularly China. [NewzroomAfrika]
Great Wall of Cape Town: The City of Cape Town is facing backlash from residents over its plans to build a R180 million wall along the N2 near Cape Town International Airport, a road notorious for violent attacks on motorists. Residents are fuming over not being consulted about the project, with the city pushing ahead with the plans and expected to lay out more details when it tables its budget in March 2026. Community groups have argued that the money is being misallocated and would be put to better use by improving communities and addressing the environmental factors that breed criminal activity at its source. [Daily Maverick]
SARS warning: New SARS guidelines mean that interest-free or informal trust loans will now be strictly policed, carrying significant tax consequences for South Africans using trusts. SARS released a draft Interpretation Note on section 7C of the Income Tax Act, the anti-avoidance provision aimed at interest-free or low-interest loans used to fund trusts. While the draft note does not alter the law, it outlines how SARS interprets Section 7C and, importantly, signals how aggressively the authority expects taxpayers to comply. Tax experts say the clear message is that there is simply no such thing as an informal, interest-free loan to your trust anymore. [Daily Investor]
End of a state monopoly: The South African Post Office’s bid to have private couriers fined for delivering small parcels, and keeping the proceeds for itself, has been dealt a death blow. Communications minister Solly Malatsi has formally ended the South African Post Office’s monopoly on small parcel deliveries weighing less than a kilogram. The Post Office was granted a 25-year exclusivity period under the Postal Services Act of 1998, which ran from 1 April 2000 until 1 April 2025. Malatsi revoked the SA Post Office’s exclusivity on small parcels nine months later, in a Government Gazette published on 12 December 2025. [MyBroadband]
Shots fired: The Deputy Mayor of the Bitou Local Municipality in the Western Cape, Nokuzola Kolwapi, is in hot water after a video of her discharging a firearm in public went viral. In a video that went viral over the weekend, Kolwapi is seen allegedly discharging a handgun in Kwanokuthula just outside of Plettenberg Bay. Kolwapi is the leader of the Ikhwezi People’s Movement (IPM). She later said that the video had been misrepresented, claiming that the object seen in her hand was a replica toy gun and not a firearm. However, the video shows bullet casings falling. Southern Cape SAPS media spokesperson, Warrant Officer Christopher Spies, confirmed that Kwanokuthula detectives are investigating. [Newsday]
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