5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·30 Sep 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- The SABC is receiving a grilling from Cabinet over Hlaudi Motsoeneng – and a R5 billion hole of irregular expenditure which the group has failed to hold someone accountable for. The massive amount was accrued over the past two financial years, with the broadcaster unable to say where the money went. Acting CEO James Aguma blamed missing records.
- South Africa’s political instability is a big concern for S&P Global – the rating agency economists say is the most likely out of the three to be cutting South Africa to junk status later in the year. According to the group, it has noted the political tensions in the country, and has commented that it would be difficult for South Africa to follow its needed economic reforms under these conditions.
- Proposals for SA’s nuclear plans have been delayed to make way for more consultation, government has announced – along with another bomb: the project may indeed fall under the wings of Eskom. The project was supposed to move to requests for proposals today, managed by the department of energy; however, government is no consulting with Eskom to see if the power utility should take charge.
- South Africa’s universities have reached the tipping point in the weeks-long student protests over fees – either students return to classes next week, or the rest of the academic year will be severely compromised, necessitating an extended lesson period which will come at a great cost to universities and students. Student protesters have given no indication that they well stop, however.
- South Africa’s rand weakened on Thursday as data showed credit demand growth slowed more than expected in August, underscoring the slowdown in Africa’s most industrialised economy ahead of credit rating reviews by year-end. On Friday, the rand was trading at R13.89 to the dollar, R18.01 to the pound and R15.59 to the euro.
In other news: Future petrol price pain may be coming our way, as OPEC regions took the decision to cut oil output for the first time in 8 years. However, the oil price dropped on the news, as investors took profits on a 7% rise over the past two weeks – while they continue to doubt that the OPEC cut will actually make a difference to global output.
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