5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• MEC reveals Eastern Cape’s worrisome food insecurity statistics: MEC for social development in the Eastern Cape, Bukiwe Fanta, recently published statistics which showed that between March and September 2023, at least 447,000 people in the province ran out of money to buy food. This translates to more than one in four people in the Eastern Cape being food insecure. [Daily Maverick]

• South Africa begins trading under AfCFTA: South Africa has begun trading under the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). According to the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, this could increase intra-Africa trade by 33% due to AfCFTA.[BusinessTech]

• Ellies shares crash after announcing business rescue: Electronics group Ellies saw its shares on the JSE crash by 60% after announcing it had gone into voluntary business rescue on Wednesday. This comes as it has struggled in its attempts to diversify into the renewable energy market. [Business Day]

• SCA rules against Transnet for trying to ‘evade’ payment order: In a judgment on Wednesday, the Supreme Court of Appeal (SCA) found that Transnet had tried to “evade its contractual obligations” and to “circumvent” a construction adjudicator’s order to pay a fence installation company, Tipp-Con, about R20 million for work completed in a fence installation tender issued in 2019 to the value of almost R30 million. [Business Day]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand strengthened against a weaker U.S. dollar on Wednesday, ahead of an interest rate decision by the Federal Reserve. On Thursday (1 February), the rand was trading at R18.68 to the dollar, R23.70 to the pound, and R20.33 to the euro. Oil is trading at $80.87 a barrel. [Reuters]