5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• The High Court is expected to hand over its judgement in the battle between Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane and Public Enterprises Minister Pravin Gordhan today. Gordhan is seeking an interdict on Mkhwebane’s report on him, which found that he had unlawfully set up an intelligent unit within SARS during his time as commissioner. Gordhan is taking the report on review. [IOL]

• The South African agriculture sector is not happy with the final report by the presidential panel on land expropriation without compensation, saying the report’s findings put food security at risk, and threaten property rights. The group was part of the panel, and said it differed with other members on many aspects, including the call to change the constitution. Other groups like the DA and Afriforum also rejected the report, calling it high risk. [TimesLive]

• A study by the Earth Policy Institute has found that people living in Johannesburg and its surrounding areas are expected to have their lives cut short by 3 years due to the levels of air pollution. The World Health Organisation estimates that approximately 20,000 South Africans lose their lives each year due to air pollution. Eskom, which is one of the biggest polluters in the country, estimates that only 333 people die as a direct result of poor air. [Mail & Guardian]

• Despite a heightened police presence and the deployment of the South African National Defence Force, violence continues in the Cape, with 10 more people shot over the weekend in gang violence. Cape Town is facing escalating violence in certain areas, with some regions showing violent murder rates higher than some war zones. Over 2,300 people have been murdered there in 2019 already. [EWN]

• South Africa’s rand tumbled to its weakest level in three weeks on Friday, while the yield on debt issued by the government and the power utility Eskom shot up as the risk grew of a credit downgrade to junk status by year-end. On Monday the rand was at R14.29 to the dollar, R17.67 to the pound and R15.90 to the euro.