5 important things happening in South Africa today
·7 Aug 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Speaker of the National Assembly Baleka Mbete will announce her decision on whether or not there will be a secret ballot in Tuesday’s vote of no confidence against president Jacob Zuma at 15h30 – less than 24 hours before the vote is to take place. Opposition parties are waiting in the wings to challenge Mbete if she chooses to disallow a secret vote.
- Telco group Blue Label Telecoms has fully implemented its recapitalisation of mobile operator Cell C, and now own 45% of the issued share capital of Cell C. Last month, the group got its final approvals from shareholders to proceed with the plan. Cell C’s net borrowings will be reduced to a maximum of R6 billion.
- The ANC’s MK veterans are threatening civil society, and plan to counter-march against those who are taking to the streets in support of the motion of no confidence against president Jacob Zuma. The MK vets have also threatened those within the ANC who are openly against Zuma, and have called for disciplinary action against them – but insist it should not be seen as intimidation.
- Data storage firm Mmela Investment Holdings has been ordered to hand over 6 million boxes of court files, after trying to hold them for ‘ransom’ when the group’s contracts with several South African courts were terminated. The group wanted an ‘R84 million retrieval fee’. Courts have been unable to access files, servers, software or electronic copies of the court records.
- South Africa’s rand fell to a new three-week low against the dollar on Friday as strong U.S. jobs data coupled with local economic and political risks dented investors’ appetite for the currency. On Monday the rand was trading at R13.41 to the dollar, R17.51 to the pound and R15.81 to the euro.
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