Government

5 important things happening in South Africa today

Staff Writer

 ·8 Sep 2023

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

Some good news: The risk of South Africa being kicked out of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (Agoa) and being sanctioned over its ties to the Kremlin has receded, according to Standard Bank Group CEO Sim Tshabalala. A post-results transcript shows that he told investors and pundits that the bank believes the Ramaphosa administration has done enough to assuage Washington’s concerns that it had aligned with Russia in its war with Ukraine. [Business Day]

Investment concerns: South African asset managers attracted investments worth R567.3 billion in the second quarter, but investors also sold investments worth R577.7 billion, resulting in net outflows of R10.4 billion. Senior policy advisor at ASISA Sunette Mulder said existing investors may have sold out of their investments to alleviate the financial pressure they are currently experiencing. [Daily Investor]

Eskom eases load shedding: Power utility Eskom said load shedding will be eased today (8 September), with stage 5 kicking in from 05h00. The group said an updated schedule for the weekend is expected to be published sometime during the day. [BusinessTech]

More trouble for Karpowership:  Another legal challenge is looming over Karpowership in Saldanha Bay as environmental groups said Environment Minister Barbara Creecy’s latest decision was unlawful. Creecy allowed Karpowership to submit a Generic Environmental Management Programme (GEMPr) for the Western Cape port well past the regulatory deadline. Environmental groups The Green Connection and Natural Justice argue that the decision is unlawful because Creecy did not consider their arguments against the company’s appeal of the Chief Director’s decision. [702]

Markets: The rand recovered some losses on Thursday after a consumer confidence index improved, although new data also showed that South Africa’s current account deficit had widened. The rand had weakened for most of this week, partly fuelled by a repeat of the country’s worst rolling blackouts, which have battered the country’s economy this year. On Friday (8 September), the rand was trading at R19.13/USD, R20.50/EUR and R23.90/GBP. Oil is trading at $89.31 a barrel. (Reuters)