Business

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·21 Sep 2022

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

• Load shedding chaos: The latest high-stage load shedding is causing chaos in several industries, as insurers struggle to keep up with claims, security companies have to double effort to tackle increased crime during blackouts, and airlines and other transport suffer delays and congested routes due to traffic lights being out. Stage 6 load shedding was introduced on the weekend. Stage 5 continues to Thursday. [News24]

• Diesel power: Adding to Eskom’s woes is its growing reliance on diesel to generate power. Not only is Eskom using more diesel to cover its shortfall, but the price of diesel has also more than doubled over the last year. Global demand for diesel is also likely to keep pushing prices up. Eskom has already burned through its budget of R7.7 billion worth of diesel this year and wants to spend R17 billion in 2023. Ratepayers will be footing the bill for this. [Moneyweb]

• Eskom board: MPs are fed up with Eskom and its board, with the latter seeking to have management sacked over its inability to solve the country’s electricity crisis. Parliamentarians called for the axing of Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter and the entire Eskom board on Tuesday, when the National Assembly heard members’ statements on a number of issues, including the energy crisis. Meanwhile, South Africans place the blame at the feet of the ANC and president Cyril Ramaphosa, who has been promising action but delivered nothing. [EWN, BI]

• Retirement change: The National Treasury has made major concessions to trade unions and the retirement industry on its proposed two-pot retirement system by granting workers immediate access to some of their accumulated savings and extending the implementation date by a year. Treasury now wants the new rules to be implemented from 1 March 2024 – however, the retirement industry still believes this start date is too early. [BusinessLive]

• Markets: On Tuesday, the South African rand weakened against the US dollar as financial markets braced for this week’s US Federal Reserve meeting, where an aggressive interest rate hike is expected. Investec economist Annabel Bishop said in a research note that power cuts intensified in the third quarter, reducing the average hours worked per factory worker in manufacturing and afflicting other activities such as the number of building plans approved. On Wednesday, the rand was at R17.70/$, R17.64/€ and R20.12/£. Brent crude is trading at $91 a barrel. [Reuters]