5 important things happening in South Africa today
·16 Nov 2017
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Eskom is on its way to making a massive loss, with a new report showing that the company’s liquidity issues and low tariff increases granted by Nersa will push the group’s interim profit of R6.4 billion into a loss of R3.5 billion by the end of the financial year. The company has been hit with low sales volumes and declining demand.
- All eyes are on Zimbabwe as it heads into an urgent political meeting in an attempt to resolve the current conflict it is facing. Political leaders in the SADC region, headed by South Africa, are meeting to decide what to do. The country is exhibiting the signs of a coup d’etat, with the Zim military seizing control and detaining the president and his family.
- The proposal to introduce government-guaranteed loans to students to help pay for university education is a bad plan, economists say. In the model, the SA government will take on 100% of the credit risk of loaning money to students – but it simply does not have the capacity to meet the payments when students fail or refuse to pay.
- South Africa’s loss of hosting the Rugby World Cup in 2023 to France boils down to the country’s image abroad, analysts say – with corruption tainting the successful bid for the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and poor management leading to the loss of the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Durban, the latest loss is an indictment of our global brand of decline.
- South Africa’s rand inched firmer on Wednesday, holding its ground against the weaker dollar with higher gold prices and signs of improving economic growth luring back buyers. On Thursday the rand was at R14.38 to the dollar, R18.94 to the pound and R16.94 to the euro.
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