5 important things happening in South Africa today
·14 Feb 2019
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Parliament has called an emergency debate over South Africa’s energy crisis, following statements from the department of energy that Eskom will collapse by April unless it gets a bailout. The department has walked back on comments saying that Eskom is insolvent, and now simply says the company has “liquidity issues”. [EWN, Mail & Guardian]
- Eskom will implement stage 2 load shedding today – one notch down from the stage 3 blackouts its implemented so far this week. Eskom says there’s been an improvement in generation which has replenished some water and diesel reserves, but the grid remain under pressure. [Eskom]
- Tax revenue for 2018/19 could once again miss targets, this time falling short by R10 billion from the number set by finance minister Tito Mboweni during the 2018 mid-term budget speech. The MTBPS reduced the 2018/19 target by R27 billion, meaning the total miss could amount to R37 billion. [Moneyweb]
- South Africa’s energy crisis is not the only thing we need to worry about, with experts warning that a water and sanitation crisis is waiting in the wings, ready to become the new crisis to hit home. SA towns are already running out of water, and set the tone for how the rest of South Africa could end up if something is not done soon. [Daily Maverick]
- South Africa’s rand sank more than 1% on Wednesday as concerns over state power firm Eskom were compounded by a firming dollar after a measure of US inflation came in stronger than expected. On Thursday the rand was at R14.05 to the dollar, R18.07 to the pound and R15.84 to the euro.
Loading ...