5 important things happening in South Africa today

·13 Aug 2019

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

President Cyril Ramaphosa has won a small battle in the fight against Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane, but the real war still wages. The High Court has granted an interdict against Mkhwebane’s report that found Ramaphosa had misled parliament relating to a R500,000 Bosasa donation – now the findings themselves need to be tested in court. Ramaphosa is also trying to seal evidence from public scrutiny related to donators and funders of his CR17 campaign. [Daily Maverick]

Old Mutual and CEO Peter Moyo will return to court this week for the second round of the ongoing court battle between the two parties. The High Court last found that Moyo’s dismissal was unlawful and that he should be reinstated. Old Mutual is appealing the order, and is now seeking to interdict Moyo from returning to work, pending the outcome of the appeal. The group says there has been a complete breakdown of trust. [CNBC Africa]

Former minister Derek Hanekom is suing former president Jacob Zuma for R500,000, after Zuma accused him of being a spy. Zuma made the startling accusations after his testimony before the state capture commission, where he described an elaborate plot to topple him. EFF leader Julius Malema revealed that Hanekom approached the party to vote Zuma out of power, leading the former president to call him an apartheid spy. [Business Day]

Everyone knows that failed state airline SAA is in trouble, but no one can say exactly how much trouble. The airline is yet to publish its financial results for the 2018 financial year – 17 months after that year ended – while most companies are now reporting for the 2019 financial year. According to analysis done by Moneyweb, the airline could have made a loss of R6 billion in 2018, and extended that loss to as much as R9 billion in 2019. [Moneyweb]

South Africa’s rand weakened on Monday, stretching losses to a new 11-month low as political uncertainty and a bleak economic outlook was worsened by uncertainty over the chances of a resolution to the trade standoff between Beijing and Washington. On Tuesday the rand was at R15.26 to the dollar, R18.42 to the pound and R17.08 to the euro.

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