5 important things happening in South Africa today
·8 Jan 2024
Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:
- Calls for Higher Education minister’s resignation intensifies: Student unions, political parties, and activist organizations have joined OUTA in calling for minister Blade Nzimande to resign. This comes following OUTA’s explosive allegations, accusing Nzimande and the SACP (where Nzimande is the national chair) of demanding kickbacks from NSFAS service providers. [EWN]
- Johannesburg’s bleak financials: Joburg mayor Kabelo Gwamanda has said that the council faces a worrisome financial situation going into 2024, alleging that his executive found a “near-bankrupt municipality” with over R6 billion in unpaid supplier invoices when they took over in May 2023. [City Press]
- Visa backlog worsens: A leaked memo reports that the country’s visa backlog now sits at over 95,000 applications. Warnings of massive fallouts from the backlog have arisen, including the thwarting of immigration processes, national security risks from the DHA trying to rush through applications, and an impediment to economic growth from skills being blocked from entering the country. [BusinessTech]
- Doubts over Eskom’s recovery plan: National Rationalised Specifications Association of South Africa has said that the power utility’s generation recovery plan may need to be revisited as the utility struggles to meet even low electricity demand after performing maintenance over the holiday period. [Daily Investor]
- Markets: The South African rand held its ground over the weekend as the dollar remains steady ahead of a key U.S. inflation report later in the week. On Monday (8 January), the rand was trading at R18.75 to the dollar, R23.75 to the pound, and R20.47 to the euro. Oil is trading at $77.90 a barrel. [Reuters]
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