5 important things happening in South Africa today

·8 Jul 2019

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

Public enterprises minister is seeking several interdicts to prevent officials from implementing the remedial action demanded by Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, as he takes her findings against him on review. The interdicts are against president Cyril Ramaphosa, National Assembly speaker Thandi Modise, Minister of State Security Ayanda Dlodlo and the SA National Police Commissioner Kehla Sitole. [Daily Maverick]

Pre-paid electricity users in Joburg can expect to pay a lot more for power from this month thanks to a new surcharge of R200 being added to bills, on top of the announced tariff hikes. The surcharge which has been implemented in Cape Town for a while (and is being challenged in Tshwane) will see monthly rates shoot up over 65% for households using 300kWh a month. [Moneyweb]

As President Cyril Ramaphosa steps into the e-toll saga, trying to get Gauteng Premier David Makhura and Finance minister Tito Mboweni to air their differences privately, the DA says the debate has already been won – as national government, thus the finance minister, has final say on the matter, and he’s made it clear the failed system is here to stay. The DA says it will lodge a dispute in August to try get the system removed, once again. [Enca]

African leaders have launched a continental free-trade zone, which could unlock trillions of rands in economic activity – especially for South Africa, whose manufacturers are some of the most developed on the continent and stand to benefit the most. While economists have largely welcomed the move, some issues remain: particularly the disparity in economic weighting, which could see larger countries like SA dominate smaller ones. [Reuters]

The rand slumped on Friday as data showing US. job growth rebounded strongly in June sent the dollar sharply higher, while the resources sector led South African stocks lower. On Monday the rand was at R14.21 to the dollar, R17.79 to the pound and R15.95 to the euro.

Must Read