Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·22 Oct 2019

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

• Eskom has accused Deloitte of corruption, and is seeking over R200 million back from the group for work done in 2016. The power utility has filed court papers in a bid to recover R207 million in connection with contracts it alleged were improperly awarded to Deloitte Consulting in 2016. It said that Deloitte used off-the-record briefings with Eskom officials to score contracts, even though its prices were not the lowest cost. [Reuters]

• Following the resignation of Joburg mayor Herman Mashaba, DA leader Mmusi Maimane is coming under tighter scrutiny. An independent review of the DA, commissioned by Maimane following losses in the 2019 elections, has found that Maimane’s leadership has been indecisive and divisive. The review also found that the relationship between Maimane and party leaders had become stressed or broken down. [TimesLive]

• Flight operator Comair has warned of disruptions and delays to Kulula and British Airways flights on its network, after several planes were grounded. This after it found irregularities with maintenance and technical service providers, SAA Technical. It said it is working to address the irregularities and will implement some contingency plans until they can be sorted out. [Comair]

• Former SAA chairperson, Dudu Myeni – who is blamed for the massive losses suffered by the state airline – has employed every delaying tactic in the book to avoid her day in court. In her latest ploy, she intends to have all non-executive directors who served on the SAA board under her to be listed as defendants on the matter. She will also make a second application to have the executive directors also brought into the matter. [Fin24]

• South Africa’s rand edged higher on Monday, with traders holding out for a decisive move by the currency before making any big bets. Sentiment towards emerging markets was boosted as hopes for resolving the China-US trade war pushed investors towards higher-risk assets. On Tuesday the rand was art R14.77 to the dollar, R19.17 to the pound and R16.47 to the euro.