Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·16 Mar 2017

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

• Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng has laid into social development minister Bathabile Dlamini and her department for exhibiting what he called “absolute incompetence” and orchestrating the current social grants crisis in the country. The Constitutional Court on Wednesday pressed lawyers for Sassa and the DSD, trying to understand how they could possibly have waiting until the last minute to decide they had no plan.

• R60 billion rand flowed out of South Africa illicitly in the 2015/2016 financial year, the Financial Intelligence Centre says, and there appears to be no plan from government to curb this. The FIC told parliament that over 9 million suspicious transactions were identified over the period – but neither the police or the Hawks could confirm that any investigations were taking place.

• Despite the ANC’s official policy position on land reform being for ‘just and equitable’ compensation, there are clear divisions over the matter, which are becoming more pronounced. Sihle Zikalala, the ANC chairman in KZN, has publicly backed president Jacob Zuma’s call for government land seizures without compensation, saying that the party in the province will launch a referendum if land expropriation without compensation isn’t adopted.

• Net1 CPS CEO Serge Belamant has contradicted his previous statement, saying a deal to deliver grants needed to be signed by Wednesday, saying there is still time – but only barely. The CEO also said that CPS was government’s only option to get 17 million grants delivered, and scoffed at the SA Post Office’s claims it could do the job, with Belamant saying the SAPO could use pigeons to deliver grants.

• A dollar pullback ahead of an all-but-certain U.S. interest rate rise allowed emerging equities and currencies to post modest gains on Wednesday. On Thursday the rand strengthened significantly back under R13 to the dollar after cracking under the greenback for much of the week. It was trading at R12.83 to the dollar, R15.75 to the pound and R13.77 to the euro.