Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·5 Sep 2019

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

• South African business leaders have urged President Cyril Ramaphosa to push through reforms faster to boost the economy and curb investment outflows, as executives and policymakers gathered for a continental economic summit. Frustration is building in South Africa. Ramaphosa has promised sweeping reforms, but growth remains below 1% a year and investors dumped R63 billion of its assets this year. [Reuters]

• Violent protests against foreign nationals continued overnight in South Africa, with looting continuing in city centres. Organisations have warned that on top of the social impact of the attacks, continued rioting is also destroying the economy, and creating international diplomacy challenges. Citizens in Nigeria have retaliated against South African companies, as well as the South African embassies. [IOL, EWN]

• Discovery says that the debate around the NHI is just starting, and that there is still a lot of room for private healthcare and medical aids to give constructive input into the process. CEO Adrian Gore says that private healthcare is needed as a ‘safety valve’ for things like the NHI, and that there is space for medical aids to work with and around the NHI in the country. [702]

• A former SABC CEO has described how she was taken to the Guptas’ Saxonwold mansion when she was first put into the position – where she was greeted and congratulated by the family and Duduzane Zuma. In other state capture news, the former minister who admitted to abusing his power to allow the Guptas to land at Waterkloof air base has resigned from public service entirely. [Enca, TimesLive]

• The rand is rapidly gaining ground against major currencies, setting its sights on the next key level of R14.67/$, supported by strong local GDP growth and subdued data from the US, where modest growth is coupled with mixed signals from consumer spending. On Thursday the rand is trading at R14.75 to the dollar, R18.06 to the pound and R16.27 to the euro.