Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·20 May 2022

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

• More to come: The Reserve Bank governor Lesetja Kganyago prepared businesses and consumers for higher borrowing costs. He argued that monetary policy remains “accommodative”, despite the highest increase in the repo rate in the last six years. This follows a 50 basis point increase by the Reserve Bank. The bank added that it could support workers by preventing inflation from eating into their incomes. [BusinessLive]

• Water crisis: Home to roughly 1.5 million residents, Nelson Mandela Bay is set to run out of water in less than a month. The dams mainly supplying urban areas have only 12.4% of usable water left. It is estimated that 40% of the metro will be without water or will have little water. The South African Weather Service said that the prospects for good rain before September were low. Municipal officials are counting on the public to restrict their water use to 50 litres per person a day. [Daily Maverick]

• Regulation challenge: The National Employers’ Association of South Africa (Neasa) has approached the court to challenge the new code of practice for managing the exposure to Covid-19 in the workplace. The association said that the new code goes beyond providing “guidance” and imposes certain obligations on an employer who may be sanctioned if they do not comply. Neasa added that the code infringes and restricts certain constitutional rights. [EWN]

• Vehicle salvaging: The South African Body Repairers’ Association (Sambra) has intensified its campaign to push the insurance industry to provide public access to the vehicle salvage database so that consumers cannot unknowingly buy written-off vehicles at high prices. Sambra noted that over the past 10 to 12 years, consumers had been left ‘none the wiser’ when insurers deem a car uneconomical to repair due to severe damage, and then the same vehicle is auctioned by a third party after it has been ‘repaired’. [Moneyweb]

• Markets: The South African rand eased on Thursday ahead of the South African Reserve Bank’s Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) vote to hike interest rates by 50 basis points, taking the repo rate to 4.75% per annum. On growth worries, emerging market stocks slid, tracking a sharp sell-off on Wall Street overnight. The rand is currently trading at R15.86/$, R16.77/€ and R19.75/£. [Nasdaq]