Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·16 Feb 2023

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

• Postbank problems: Former SA Post Office CEO Mark Barnes says it is unlikely Postbank will qualify for a banking license in its current state. Barnes said that he doubts whether Postbank would pass the South African Reserve Bank’s rigour and integrity tests in regard to its skills, capital and systems when looking at granting a license. He added that it would be more appropriate for a state bank to be constructed out of existing state institutions, including the IDC, the DBSA, the NEF, the Land Bank and possibly others. [BusinessDay]

• Weak rand to hit consumers: Miyelani Mkhabela, founder and economist at Antswisa Management Group, says the weakening of the rand against the dollar will hurt consumers’ pockets as the price of imports will increase. Mkhabela said that the weakening of the rand is mainly due to the movements in the US market and not any domestic drivers. South Africa – a net importer – imports oil in bulk, clothing and raw materials for the manufacturing sector. [702]

• Get vaccinated: The national health department is urging South African parents and guardians to get their children vaccinated as part of its immunisation campaign against measles, HPV and other vaccine-preventable diseases. South Africa has recorded over 500 cases of measles since the outbreak of the disease. Department spokesperson Foster Mohale said that unvaccinated children were at the highest risk of getting measles and passing it on to their classmates. [EWN]

• Water outage warning: Rand Water says certain parts of Gauteng and Mpumalanga may experience water shortages due to a power failure at the Mapleton booster station – which is supplied by an Ekurhuleni substation that is fed directly from the Eskom grid. The failure has led to a decline in several of Rand Water’s reservoirs. Eskom is still searching for the fault and cannot provide an estimated restoration time. [TimesLive]

• Markets:  The South African rand weakened against a stronger dollar on Wednesday after domestic inflation figures came in line with expectations. The country’s headline consumer inflation slowed to 6.9% year-on-year in January from 7.2% in December, in line with analysts’ forecasts, Statistics South Africa said yesterday. On Thursday (16 February), the rand was trading at R18.01/$, R19.28/€, and R21.70/£. Brent crude is trading at $85.86 a barrel. [Nasdaq]