5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Despite concerns over a coal supply crisis, Eskom says that the dreaded load shedding is not on the cards. Eskom said it would divert coal to the stations that were running low, and would resort to using costly open cycle gas turbines if needed. Load shedding, it said, was costly for both Eskom and the country. [IOL]

• President Cyril Ramaphosa has secured over R850 million in funding from the UK, after meeting with UK leaders at the Commenwealth Heads of Government Meeting being held this week. The money will go to business initiatives that will make South Africa more attractive to foreign investors over the next 4 years. [Huffpo SA]

• The portfolio committee on public enterprises wants to call in the big guns to draw Dudu Myeni, Duduzane Zuma and the Gupta brothers before it. The committee has failed to serve summons to get them to appear, because they simply cannot be found. It will now reportedly approach the speaker of the national assembly and the Hawks for help. [Fin24]

• Thousands of commuters have been left stranded as bus operators go on strike today. Drivers and other workers abandoned their posts on Tuesday night, after wage negotiations deadlocked. Workers are demanding a 12% across the board pay increase while employers are offering 7%. [EWN]

• South Africa’s rand gained on Tuesday to below the crucial R12 per US dollar level as rand bulls were encouraged the announcement of an investment drive by President Cyril Ramaphosa and an improving economic outlook. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R12.00 to the dollar, R17.16 to the pound and R14.85 to the euro.