Energy

5 things you need to know in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·23 Nov 2016

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

• South Africa’s nuclear plans are going to wait a bit longer, as a revision of the guide to nuclear power has delayed the process by several years. The new energy plan now sees the ‘base case’ for the first nuclear power in 2037 (compared to 2023 in the original), with 20,385MW of energy from nuclear plants being produced by 2050. Observers consider this a small win for those on the side of more cautious government spending – at least in the shorter term.

• South Africans are ashamed of their country, a new study released by the Havas Creative Group shows. The study sought to see how consumers are reacting to change and uncertainty in their countries – and a majority of South Africans expressed a lack of confidence in their country, with around half expressing shame.

• Civil group, Save SA, will be launching a citizen’s motion of no confidence in president Jacob Zuma and his Cabinet at Constitution Hill today, and is urging the genera public to support them. The Constitution only makes provision for the National Assembly to make an actual vote of no confidence in the president (which Zuma has survived at every turn) so the citizens’ motion would be a public showing of protest.

• The latest unemployment figure – the highest in 13 years at 27.1% – will be closely analysed by ratings agencies as they prepare to announce the fate of South Africa, and whether we will be cut to junk. Moody’s is expected to announce its decision on Friday, with S&P Global and Fitch following in the first week in December. It is unclear what direction the ratings will go, with consensus from economists that at least one group will cut SA to junk – while political analysts say the groups may hold SA where it is, to avoid politicising the issue.

• South Africa’s rand firmed on Tuesday alongside other emerging market currencies, helped by higher commodity prices and a pause in the rise of the dollar. Stocks also rose in line with emerging markets. On Wednesday, the rand was trading at R14.05 to the dollar, R17.43 to the pound and R14.94 to the euro.