Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·9 Feb 2022

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

Coronavirus: In South Africa, there have been 2,824 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 3,626,014. Deaths have reached 96,289 (+268), while recoveries have climbed to 3,488,980, leaving the country with a balance of 42,745 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 30,325,638.

• SONA 2022: President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver his State of the Nation Address on Thursday. A look back at the SONA’s delivered by the president since 2018 unravel a string of promises which he has largely failed to deliver on, including the old song of building more houses and clinics, reducing the cost of living, and creating jobs. In subsequent addresses, Ramaphosa homed in on the lacklustre economy and job creation – with even the mid-pandemic address in 2021 having the president promising a turnaround in jobs and reviving and rebuilding the economy. Expectations for the 2022 SONA are that the same notes will be hit. [TimesLive]

• Chaos: South Africa’s key state-owned companies continue to operate in chaos in 2022, with executive changes, operational issues, and many once again failing to produce financial reports and audits on time. It makes just another year of decline for the likes of SAA, the Land Bank, Denel, the SA Post Office and Armscor – while Eskom and its recent return to load shedding tell a story all its own. The SOEs have largely failed to produce their financial statements on time and publish annual reports to parliament, leaving the South African public – that funds them – in the dark about the many operational issues they face. [Daily Maverick]

• Please call me: The Pretoria High Court has ruled that Vodacom must go back to the drawing board to calculate fair compensation to Nkosana Makate for his invention of the Please Call Me system. Vodacom previously offered Makate R47 million after the Constitutional Court ordered Vodacom to negotiate appropriate compensation for the invention in good faith. Makate rejected this and alleged it was well below his due, which he believed should be R20 billion. The High Court has now ruled that Makate is entitled to 5% of the total voice revenue generated from the PCM product over 20 years, from March 2001 to March 2021. [MyBroadband]

• Misconduct: The Pretoria Society of Advocates is calling for the removal of advocate Dali Mpofu from the Judicial Service Commission. Meanwhile, the General Council of the Bar (GCB) said Mpofu brought the advocates’ profession and the administration of justice into disrepute. The comments are tied to Mpofu’s conduct during the JSC’s interview process for the next chief justice. He – and EFF leader Julius Malema – blindsided candidates with unfounded allegations and insults, with no evidence to back up the claims. Mpofu and Malema have been accused of character assassination and muddying the entire JSC process. [News24, ENCA]

• Markets: The South African rand firmed in afternoon trade on Tuesday as power utility Eskom suspended its latest power cuts, with market focus also fixed on US inflation data due later in the week that could unleash bets on faster interest rate hikes there. South Africa’s state-owned utility Eskom suspended scheduled power cuts on Tuesday, which were implemented after it suffered more breakdowns at its ailing coal fleet. Eskom’s woes are a major constraint on economic growth and investor sentiment in Africa’s most industrialised nation. On Wednesday, the rand was trading at R15.33/$, R17.52/€ and R20.79/£. [Reuters]