Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·12 Jul 2017

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

• Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has criticised president Jacob Zuma in her answering affidavit for his case seeking to have the State Capture report set aside. In the document, Mkhwebane said that Zuma has no grounds to attack the remedial action sought, and that the president has an ethical duty, enshrined in the Constitution, to remove himself from a position of conflict of interest. Zuma wants full control of an investigation into himself.

• The Gupta family had access to private and confidential information between German software giant SAP, and state-owned companies, the latest Gupta leaks reveal. The family were forwarded the information by their lieutenants and business partners, who were in correspondence with senior SAP South Africa officials. SAP has strongly denied any wrongdoing, since its name was dragged into the GuptaGate saga.

• People are speculating that something smells rotten at Eskom, after the power utility chose to postpone the release of its annual results to next Wednesday. The official line from Eskom is that it needs to engage with stakeholders before releasing its results, but analysts suspect the group is hiding something after two former CEOs were flagged by external auditors.

• Zulu king Goodwill Zwelithini has been given R1.7 million worth of government-owned houses for free – three of which are also being given R1.1 million renovations, also at no cost to the king. The king has long been criticised for being a leech on the state, while many of his subjects suffer in poverty. He is given a R50 million budget each year, and gets a R1 million state salary.

• South Africa’s rand weakened on Tuesday, following in the footsteps of its emerging markets peers on looming threats about tighter global monetary conditions. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R13.52 to the dollar, R17.39 to the pound and R15.53 to the euro.