5 important things happening in South Africa today
·21 Jul 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- The Guptas say they are being subject to false accusations of corruption in a ‘blatantly political campaign’ to damage them. Speaking to BBC news, the controversial brothers are adamant they are innocent, but the family spokesperson said nothing about the highly incriminating Gupta leak emails. The brothers have gone to ground, and until now have not commented publicly on the furore.
- Despite a cut in rates by the Reserve Bank, governor Lesetja Kganyago says that the Bank will not hesitate to reverse the action should the rand lose its resilience and the market takes a turn for the worst. Kganyago also denied that the move to cut rates was in any way politically motivated, saying no president or minister, past or present, has attempted to tell the SARB how to implement its mandate.
- A tool developed by News24 and OpenUp to allow South Africans to email MPs to ask them to vote for or against a motion of no confidence in president Zuma has shown that everyday citizens are overwhelmingly in support of MPs passing the motion. Over 7,180 emails were sent, but only 120 wanted the motion to fail, the media group revealed.
- Finance minister Malusi Gigaba has disclosed that there is an initiative to identify and sell some state assets to help fund a R2.2 billion bailout for SAA. This will be done so that the bailout does not have an impact on the 2017/18 budget. The initiative was disclosed in a letter to the Speaker of the National Assembly, Baleka Mbete, explaining the circumstances.
- South Africa’s rand shed as much as one percent against the dollar on Thursday after the central bank unexpectedly cut its benchmark lending rate for the first time in five years. Retail stocks emerged as the big winners from the announcement. On Friday the rand was trading at R13.04 to the dollar, R16.91 to the pound and R15.17 to the euro.
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