5 things you need to know in South Africa today

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

• A new list is circulating, purporting to show the ANC’s choices of ‘preferred candidcates’ for the party’s presidency. According to the party, the list was not an official document, and was likely prepared by supporters of deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa, who tops it as president. Zweli Mkhize is listed as deputy president, while Gauteng Premier David Makhura is noted as secretary general.

• Heeding the call from the ANC mothership to avoid endorsements in the coming elective conference, the ANC Youth League is tight-lipped about who it will be backing come December – but it has alluded that it will be neither Cyril Ramaphosa nor Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, who are ‘part of the system’ it wants to change. The group says that its preferred candidate will need to lead a second revolution that will “rupture the economy”.

• The Cape Chamber of Commerce has labelled the festive season a flop, where the usually busy holiday period saw the retail sector under-performing, in what was an economically challenging year. The group said that major sales such as Black Friday also put added pressure on bottom lines over the period.

• According to reports from Bloomberg, the rand is no longer the world’s most volatile currency, having given the title to the Turkish Lira. A gauge of expected exchange-rate swings jumped this week to the highest level in almost three years amid speculation Turkey’s central bank won’t raise interest rates, analysts said.

• South African stocks notched up solid gains on Tuesday, led by Anglo American which rose sharply in the wake of a Chinese-inspired metals rally. On Wednesday, the rand was at R13.74 to the dollar, R16.72 to the pound and R14.49 to the euro.