{"id":177985,"date":"2017-06-07T07:49:00","date_gmt":"2017-06-07T05:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=177985"},"modified":"2017-06-07T07:49:00","modified_gmt":"2017-06-07T05:49:00","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-75","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/177985\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-75\/","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.702.co.za\/articles\/259397\/south-africa-is-getting-poorer\">Economist Dawie Roodt says there is a good chance that ratings firm Moody&#8217;s mat downgrade South Africa&#8217;s credit rating by two notches, taking it to junk status, and bringing it in line with other agencies<\/a><\/strong>. This is likely because of South Africa slipping into recession, after shock GDP data out on Tuesday. Roodt says SA consumers are in trouble &#8211; eating less, spending less and earning less &#8211; which spells doom for the economy at large.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2017-06-07-scorpio-and-amabhungane-guptaleaks-guptas-planned-to-buy-primedia-and-build-a-government-supported-media-empire\/#.WTePl2h96Uk\">The latest Gupta leak has revealed that the controversial family sought to acquire Primedia and even Independent Media, with the goal of building a massive government-backed media empire. <\/a><\/strong>This follows revelations that the family was keen on buying out one of its most vocal opponents, the Mail &amp; Guardian. Primedia&#8217;s 702, Cape Talk, 94.7 and Ster Kinekor businesses would have filled the gaps in the Guptas&#8217; own ANN7 and New Age news network, while Independent&#8217;s 18 newspapers would have given mass distribution.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/politics\/2017-06-06-zille-gives-reasons-not-to-be-suspended-to-the-da\/\">Western Cape Premier Helen Zille has provided the DA with her reasons why she should not be suspended from the party, ahead of her disciplinary hearing this coming Friday<\/a><\/strong>. Zille and DA leader Mmusi Maimane are currently at odds over the direction of the party, insiders have said. Zille&#8217;s hearing will not be made public, and party supporters will have to wait to be briefed on the outcomes by the party itself.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2017\/06\/07\/storm-wreak-havoc-in-cape-penisula-uproots-trees-and-damages-homes\">What is being described as the worst storm in 30 years has hit Cape Town, and is causing chaos and damage in the city, with officials warning citizens to avoid roads where possible and to seek safety. <\/a><\/strong>The storm hit the city late last night, bringing gale force winds, heavy rain and destruction. Trees have been uprooted, and informal homes have been blown away. The city said emergency services are on standby.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South African markets fell on Tuesday as Africa&#8217;s most industrialised country entered recession for the first time in eight years, with stocks touching a more than 1-month low. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Wednesday, the rand was trading at R12.86 to the dollar, R16.60 to the pound and R14.49 to the euro<\/a><\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Moody&#8217;s is likely to junk South Africa after the latest recession news, economists say; the Guptas wanted to buy Primedia and Independent Media to build a huge government-backed media empire; Zille readies for her disciplinary hearing; and the worst storm in 30 years hits the Cape.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":168963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,11121,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-177985","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-finance","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177985","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=177985"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177985\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":177987,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/177985\/revisions\/177987"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/168963"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=177985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=177985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=177985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}