5 things you need to know in South Africa today
·18 Nov 2016
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Another union has joined the call for president Jacob Zuma to step down – the Communication Workers Union has said that after engaging with its members, the general consensus is that South Africa would fare much better with Zuma gone from the presidency. The union is Cosatu’s smallest affiliate at 27,000 members, but joins one of the biggest – Nehawu, with hundreds of thousands of members – in the call for the president to go.
- Whether it be in coming weeks, or next year, South Africa simply does not have the economic prowess to avoid junk status, and we should it expect it at some stage or another, according to a poll of 12 economists. While the country has managed to improve its economic situation from earlier in the year, it may not be enough to avoid a rating downgrade in the coming weeks – and even if it is, there are doubts the country can keep the pace going through 2017.
- President Jacob Zuma is lying to Parliament and South Africa to dodge answering questions about state capture, the DA says. In Parliament, the president said he could not answer any questions about the Gupta family or state capture, as the matter was before the courts – however, the DA has pointed out that the matter is, in fact, not before any court, meaning the president was just lying to get out of it.
- Controversial SABC exec Hlaudi Motsoeneng says he will defend against a R1 million defamation lawsuit being brought by ANC chief whip Jackson Mthembu, following comments during a live broadcast where Motsoeneng accused the whip of trying to ‘capture’ him through business dealings.
- The South African rand was a touch firmer against the dollar on Thursday, with traders expecting it to stay in a narrow range ahead of next week’s interest rates decision and a credit rating review from Moody’s. On Friday the rand was trading at R14.46 to the dollar, R17.93 to the pound and R15.33 to the euro.
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