5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Ratings agencies are happy with the changes happening in South Africa, says finance minister Nhlanlha Nene, who has meet with all three major firms since being reappointed to National Treasury. He says the budget has been well-received, and that the groups are optimistic about the political changes that are happening.

• Former SAA chairperson Dudu Myeni, Duduzane Zuma and the three Gupta brothers will be subpoenaed to appear before the parliamentary state capture commission, after all five failed to appear before MPs voluntarily. Failure to comply with the subpoena is a criminal offence. Myeni claims she is ill, but has failed to produce any medical certificate to that effect.

• The department of energy says that Numsa and other groups that oppose the signing of 27 new independent power contracts have it all wrong. Numsa interdicted the signing, saying that coal power stations would close as a result of new IPPs – however the department said that the closure would be linked to the stations reaching the end of their lifespan, not anything to do with the IPPs.

• Jacob Zuma spent over R15.3 million of taxpayers’ money over the past 9 years in court cases around the spy tapes saga, in which he has been accused of fraud and corruption. Because the cases were against Zuma personally, and not as president of the country, opposition parties argue that it constitutes irregular and wasteful expenditure.

• South Africa’s rand rose on Tuesday as the dollar fell after US President Donald Trump fired Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, while stocks weakened. On Wednesday the rand was trading at R11.78 to the dollar, R16.48 to the pound and R14.63 to the euro.