{"id":167181,"date":"2017-03-30T07:43:25","date_gmt":"2017-03-30T05:43:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=167181"},"modified":"2017-03-30T07:43:25","modified_gmt":"2017-03-30T05:43:25","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-36","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/167181\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-36\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here&#8217;s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/thetimes\/2017\/03\/30\/Zumas-plan-revealed-SACP-three-of-ANC%E2%80%99s-top-six-reject-No-1%E2%80%99s-scheme-to-replace-Gordhan-with-Molefe\">The SACP has gone on record to confirm that president Jacob Zuma approached its leaders about his intentions to fire finance minister Pravin Gordhan and replace him with Brian Molefe<\/a><\/strong>. SACP deputy secretary general\u00a0Solly Mapaila wanted to make it clear that the party did not support Zuma&#8217;s call, and wanted it on record after various media leaks.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/city-press.news24.com\/News\/why-gordhan-and-jonas-were-recalled-from-trip-20170329\">In lieu of any official reasoning for recalling finance minister Pravin Gordhan back to South Africa this week, comments from insiders point to a so-called &#8220;intelligence report&#8221; as the reason for the move<\/a><\/strong>. According to reports, the &#8220;intelligence&#8217; document accuses Gordhan of meeting with foreign powers to work against president Jacob Zuma, which kick-started this week&#8217;s action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/business-report\/economy\/we-just-asked-for-help---guptas-8400431\">Gupta-owned companies are denying they repeatedly put pressure on Gordhan and National Treasury to intervene in their battle with South African banks, saying that they were just politely asking for help<\/a><\/strong>. The companies are seeking to have Gordhan&#8217;s case thrown out of court, saying that there is no legal question as they agree with the minister&#8217;s position. Despite this, the companies refuse to withdraw their opposition or back down.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/world\/europe\/2017-03-30-banks-scramble-as-may-triggers-complex-brexit\/\">With &#8220;no turning back&#8221; the message of the day, UK Prime Minister Theresa May has initiated Britain&#8217;s formal move out of the European Union, ushering in two years of economic uncertainty<\/a><\/strong>. While a lot of businesses will be affected, the banking sector has had to scramble to make it work, with both short-term and long-term plans in the pipeline to try and bring stability.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South Africa&#8217;s rand and bonds extended losses on Wednesday, amid speculation of an imminent cabinet shake-up that could see Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan removed, but stocks inched up. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Thursday the rand was trading at R13.03 to the dollar, R16.20 to the pound and R14.03 to the euro<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The SACP confirmed that Zuma is planning a reshuffle to get rid of Gordhan; a rogue &#8220;intelligence report&#8221; has entered the picture as justification for Zuma&#8217;s move against Gordhan; the Guptas say they were just asking for help; and Brexit is a go ushering in two years of global worry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":107639,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"idle","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-167181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=167181"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":167191,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/167181\/revisions\/167191"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107639"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=167181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=167181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=167181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}