5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Eskom says that it has been subsidising electricity prices in South Africa – something which it can no longer afford to do. The power utility wants to hike prices by 15% a year for the next three years, as it struggles to undo a decade of corruption that has left it on the brink. [News24]

• Western Cape premier Helen Zille’s comment on leading a tax revolt have again put her at odds with the DA. The party has distanced itself from the position, which has been criticised for inciting criminality and hurting the poor. The DA said a tax revolt is not official party policy. [Business Day]

• Former Bosasa boss Angelo Agrizzi has testified that former president Jacob Zuma was on the group’s bribery payroll, and that he and Dudu Myeni were frequent visitors. He said that Myeni hand-delivered confidential documents to them – while Zuma was approached with R300,000 to shut down an investigation. [IOL]

• Mobile operators MTN and Vodacom say that by forcing the removal of data expiry, the price of data is likely to rise. The groups say that data expiry allows them to plan products better and provide consumers with more options around usage patterns. Removing expiry means that cheaper, short-life products become redundant. [MyBroadband]

• South Africa’s rand weakened against the dollar on Monday, before a week packed with market-moving events. On Tuesday the rand was at R13.68 to the dollar, R17.98 to the pound and R15.63 to the euro.