5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·22 Aug 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Monday marks an important day for South Africa’s biggest economic hub, as the City of Johannesburg will elect its new councillors and mayor. The fate of the the city – and current mayor Parks Tau – rests in the hands of the EFF, which has the power to swing the vote on favour of the ANC or DA. The party has stated it will vote for DA candidate, Herman Mashaba.
- Team South Africa is returning from Rio victorious, having nailed its 10-medal goal with Caster Semenya comfortably winning gold in the ladies’ 800m on Sunday. Semenya’s victory was not without controversy, which constantly follows the star athlete due to her hyperandrogenism. The International Athletics Federation is pushing to have her – and athletes like her – disallowed from competing.
- South Africa’s rand retreated for a third consecutive session on Friday to its weakest level in a week against the dollar while stocks also fell, both assets pressured by signs the U.S. central bank could still lift rates this year. On Monday, the rand was trading at R13.59 to the dollar R17.72 to the pound and R15.33 to the euro.
- In global news, Asian shares slipped on Monday and the dollar pulled away from last week’s lows on expectations that a signal might emerge from a Federal Reserve gathering this week in Jackson Hole, Wyoming that the U.S. central bank is gearing up to hike interest rates.
- Oil prices fell on Monday as analysts doubted upcoming producer talks would rein in oversupply, saying that Brent would likely fall back below $50 a barrel as August’s more than 20-percent crude rally looks overblown. Brent crude was trading at $50.22 per barrel, down 66 cents,while U.S. crude was down 51 cents at $48.01 a barrel.
In other news: The government’s medical aid scheme (GEMS) is at risk of going bust as it looks set to increase its deficit for 2016 to R1.2 billion. This has drastic implications for its 1.8 million-plus members who face changes to benefits as the scheme will need a government bailout. It also spells bad news to the proposed National Health Insurance (NHI).
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