Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·24 Apr 2017

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

• While deputy president Cyril Ramaphosa has publicly laid down the gauntlet and challenged the presidency of Jacob Zuma, the president is taking his tried and true angle, claiming that outside forces are trying to wrest control of the country. Zuma said he ‘knows things’ and that he was aware of outside governments that are trying to control the country through a parallel government within the ANC.

• Finance minister Malusi Gigaba has reportedly failed to convince ratings agency Moody’s of a stable South African economy following the events of the past few weeks. Senior reporters who spoke to Gigaba following meetings with the ratings agency quoted the minister as saying that his team was unsuccessful in its mission to assure the firm of the country’s stability. Moody’s has South Africa at two notches above junk.

• The transport department says that it is at an advanced stage of getting the road laws changed to introduce harsher punishments for drunk drivers, including a mandatory two-year prison sentence. The department said it was engaging with the justice department to get the drunk driving offence changed from a schedule 2 crime to a schedule 5 crime – the same level as murder, rape and treason, among others.

• The Democratic Alliance says it wants to stop the government’s nuclear procurement plans in its tracks, and is looking at its legal options. The party’s stance comes after it was revealed that Eskom tried to circumvent certain procurement procedures in the nuclear dealings, which will be put into a formal application to be considered and signed off by finance minister Malusi Gigaba. The DA opposes the nuclear deal in its entirety.

• South Africa’s rand steadied against the dollar on Friday as developed market currencies came back in favour, ending a recent rally that has lifted the unit to 3-week high. On Monday the rand was trading at R13.00 to the US dollar, R16.63 to the pound and R14.11 to the euro.