5 important things happening in South Africa today
·24 Aug 2018
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- National Treasury is expected to provide evidence of how state-owned companies tried to freeze it out of investigations into their links to the Guptas. The evidence will be presented before the Zondo commission into state capture, where testimony from primary whistleblower, Mcebisi Jonas, is also expected to be heard. [Mail & Guardian]
- The South African government has summoned US charge d’affaires Jessye Lapenn, over tweets made by US president Donald Trump targetting SA’s land reform. President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office has accused Trump of stoking racial divisions and being ignorant of South African policies. [Reuters]
- Eskom will face a tough time from unions over its plans to let go of approximately 7,000 workers as part of a restructuring strategy. Unions say they will resist any attempts to cut the headcount, despite the fact that Eskom’s bloated workforce of over 48,000 people is costing the company billions it can’t afford. [IOL]
- Reacting to the recent volatility brought about by land policy and international reactions to it, the Reserve Bank says that volatility is simply part of our lives. The central bank said that markets overreact and then settle, and similar trends have been seen in many markets, including the US. [Bloomberg]
- South Africa’s rand fell against the dollar on Thursday, hurt by comments by US President Donald Trump on Pretoria’s land reform plans and a stronger greenback, while stocks ended slightly higher. On Friday the rand was at R14.37 to the dollar, R18.42 to the pound and R16.62 to the euro.
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