Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·25 Oct 2019

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

• President Cyril Ramaphosa was again pitched a proposal to buy and install a Russian fleet of nuclear reactors– and he once again said no. The offer was raised at a South Africa-Russia summit this week, where Russian president Vladimir Putin made the pitch. However, Ramaphosa made it clear that the country had no money to embark on such a scheme. Putin reportedly accepted the explanation. [Daily Maverick]

• Postbank is one step away from becoming a full bank in South Africa, only needing to now apply to register the bank controlling company with the Registrar of Banks. All the other necessary legal changes have been made to make it an independent banking entity, and it should be producing its own set of annual reports at the end of the 2019/20 financial year. [Fin24]

• The DA’s federal council will meet to elect interim leaders for the party, until it holds its congress in April 2020. So far, the party’s caucus chair Annelie Lotriet has been elected as interim parliamentary leader, following Mmusi Maimane’s resignation from parliament and the party on Thursday. [Enca]

• Analysts are pegging the downfall of Mmusi Maimane within the DA on his relentless pursuit of Cyril Ramaphosa and Bosasa. At least two analysts have gone on record saying that Maimane’s pursuit of Ramaphosa made the president vulnerable to attack from other factions – such as Zuma supporters and the EFF – which brought instability to South Africa. Sympathetic DA donors saw Maimane as the cause of this. [IOL]

• South Africa’s rand traded marginally weaker on Thursday, in line with global currency markets ahead of some important central bank meetings, and in the absence of new signals from the Sino-US trade war and the Brexit saga. On Friday, the rand was at R14.69 to the dollar, R18.87 to the pound and R16.31 to the euro.