5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• The SAPS will release the latest crime stats today. 2017’s data showed big increases in carjacking and drug related crimes, while murder was also up. One of the biggest increases were incidents of cash-in-transit heists, which are again expected to climb in the 2018 data. [EWN]

• SARS may not be able to collect R57 billion of its R143 billion loan book, which relates to old debt and disputed monies, acting chief officer for tax Fabian Murray said. While it is questionable that the amount could ever be collected, Murray said the focus was on collecting the other R86 billion. [Moneyweb]

• Land reform talks have hit South Africa’s agriculture industry hard, with confidences indices tracking lower, and property prices in a slump. The average price of agricultural land sold in July was R9,318 a hectare compared to R13,700 previously – while confidence levels have dropped to levels last seen in 2016. [Bloomberg]

• South Africa’s telecoms department says it is ready to step in an intervene in the MTN-Nigeria miss, if MTN asks it for help. MTN is heading to court to secure its assets in Nigeria after the government demanded $10.1 billion in penalties. The group said it is still in discussions with the Nigerian government. [Reuters]

• South Africa’s rand stretched its recovery to a third straight session on Monday, climbing further off two-year lows hit last week as investors saw an opportunity to buy the currency cheaply while the dollar’s rally paused. On Tuesday the rand was at R15.15 to the dollar, R19.76 to the pound and R17.58 to the euro.