Government

5 things you need to know in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·26 Oct 2016

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

• Today is the day of South Africa’s mid-term budget speech, and finance minister Pravin Gordhan is under pressure as economists and investors look to him to have solid plans and to take decisive action to rejuvenate the economy. Since the budget meeting in February, the South Africa economy has slowed to a creep, with many global bodies – and the SARB itself – revising growth down to just a fraction of a percentage for 2016.

• President Jacob Zuma is living in a world of his own, political analysts are saying after the president failed to meet questions in Parliament with the concern and impact that was required of him. In a Q&A session with the National Council of Provinces on Tuesday, Zuma dances around issues, and dismissed legitimate concerns from opposition parties as people trying to push an agenda.

• Protesting students have warned that the fight for free education is just the beginning – and that the next step will be to take back the land in South Africa. This is according to reports from the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, which had to evacuate staff and students on Tuesday night as the institute’s Belville campus turned into a veritable war zone as protesting students and police clash every evening.

• The Black Business Council (BBC) says that the stepping down of its CEO, business leader  Mohale Ralebitso, had nothing to do with him signing a pledge backing finance minister Pravin Gordhan and calling for his fraud charges to be dropped. The BBC are seen as supporters of president Jacob Zuma, and have defended him on numerous occasions. However, they said Ralebitso resigned to focus on his own businesses, and they would have in fact ‘loved for him to stay’.

• South Africa’s rand firmed on Tuesday as concerns Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan will be forced to quit over fraud charges eased and market focus turned to his medium-term budget speech on Wednesday. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R13.78 to the dollar, R16.77 to the pound and R15.01 to the euro.