5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·21 Sep 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Wits university has shut down for the week, following student protests on Tuesday, which turned violent as students clashed with police on campus. Meanwhile, protest action has spread to other universities across the country, as students reject any fee hikes for 2017, and push the call for free education for all.
- Parliament’s portfolio committee on energy is going after energy minister Tina Joemat-Pettersson, looking to flex its constitutional muscles to force the minister to reveal documents related to the controversial nuclear build. To date, the minister has refused to reveal any information about the project, citing confidentiality – however, MPs are constitutionally within their rights to demand access.
- SABC employee, Hlaudi Motsoeneng’s presence at the broadcaster is looking murkier each day, as the ‘former’ COO refuses to say what he is actually doing now that he is no longer in the role. The SABC board is under pressure to remove Motsoeneng completely, but he has previously enjoyed support from the chair, and the the minister of communications, making his exit seem unlikely.
- Economist Dawie Roodt has warned that the South African government has made a promise to #FeesMustFall students that the country cannot afford to keep. He said that students saw billions of rands being siphoned off by corruption, which motivates them to protest; however, the students don’t realise that there is no money for free education when billions are being spent to bail out government companies each year.
- South Africa’s currency continued to make gains on Tuesday following favourable international market movements and a positive view on the local market from ratings group Moody’s. The rand rallied to its highest in nearly two weeks against the dollar on Tuesday. On Wednesday the rand was at R13.91 to the dollar, R18.00 to the pound and R15.46 to the euro.
In other news: The campaign by radio personality Tbo Touch to get network operators to bring down the price of mobile data has made its case to Parliament. Touch has been highly critical of mobile operators, calling their high data prices “daylight robbery”, and has appealed to MPs to introduce regulations that will ensure affordable data. Today, the operators will make their presentations in response.
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