5 important things happening in South Africa today

·8 Sep 2022

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

Broad terrorism: Concerns over the expansion of what is deemed to be terrorist activities, including publications of ‘unlawful terrorist content’, were raised on Wednesday when Parliament’s police committee heard public submissions on an anti-terrorism bill. The Protection of Constitutional Democracy against Terrorist and Related Activities Amendment Bill was introduced in a bid for South Africa to avoid a global ‘greylisting’. However, the draft laws are not without their shortcomings. [Daily Maverick]

New grants: New documents outline potential replacements for the R350 social relief distress grant in South Africa, including introducing a job-seeker grant and a caregiver grant. The government proposals are far removed from calls to have the SRD grant become a permanent basic income grant in the country. The proposals have already drawn criticism, with social groups saying they would ultimately exclude the majority of current SRD recipients. [GroundUp]

Protection racket: Eskom is hesitant to re-enter areas where it has disconnected residents due to threats of violence against its teams. In some areas, gangsters have attempted to launch protection rackets against the power utility – demanding as much as R20,000 a month in ‘protection fees’. These protection rackets go further than the power utility, with similar attempts being made against other state companies like Prasa. [TimesLive]

Deep rot: A new investigation by amaBhungane uncovers deep rot and tender fraud at the eThekwini municipality, where the metro is attempting to hand a dubious R30-million “settlement” to a tenderpreneur — and punish the whistleblower who exposed its questionable origins. In 2012 a Durban electricity official flagged a contractor for overcharging and urged his blacklisting. In 2017, the city turned on the official and suspended him. When the official persisted, his son was shot dead in a hit he believes was meant for him. [Daily Maverick]

Markets: South Africa’s rand strengthened on Wednesday as the dollar fell despite the US economy’s showing signs of resilience. A survey showed on Wednesday that South Africa’s business confidence slipped in the third quarter as sentiment among building contractors deteriorated due to shortages of some materials, load-shedding and planning delays. The reading remained in depressed territory. On Thursday, the rand was trading at R17.30/$, R17.29/€ and R19.92/£. Brent crude is trading at $89 a barrel. [Reuters]

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