{"id":218635,"date":"2018-01-10T08:08:49","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T06:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=218635"},"modified":"2018-01-10T08:08:49","modified_gmt":"2018-01-10T06:08:49","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-218","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/218635\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-218\/","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>Former Public Protector Thuli Madonsela is concered about president Jacob Zuma&#8217;s late decision to launch a judicial commission of inquiry into state capture, <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2018\/01\/10\/madonsela-concerned-about-zuma-s-late-decision-on-state-capture-probe\">saying that crucial evidence may have been lost or compromised in the time since she recommended the inquiry be set up<\/a><\/strong>. She specifically pointed to phone records, which are only available for a certain amount of time.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South African pharmaceutical company, Aspen Pharmacare, says it is aware of <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/companies\/healthcare\/2018-01-09-aspen-says-it-has-nothing-in-common-with-steinhoff-as-share-price-slumps\/\">speculation that\u00a0a group of investors who recently published a report into Steinhoff\u2019s accounts is going to publish a similar report on its business<\/a><\/strong>, however it maintains that its financials are clear and nothing like Steinhoff. The group&#8217;s share price dipped on Tuesday.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Insiders have pointed to an urgent behind-the-scenes attempt to remove Zuma as president, with speculation that today&#8217;s ANC NEC meeting will at the very least discuss the possibility of recalling him. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/politics\/behind-the-scenes-scramble-to-decide-on-zumas-fate-12670045\">Legal experts have pointed out, however, that the NEC&#8217;s decisions have no legal bearing, and Zuma will have to resign or be impeached for a legal exit.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>T<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.fin24.com\/Economy\/world-bank-predicts-just-11-gdp-growth-for-sa-in-2018-20180109\">he World Bank&#8217;s economic outlook for South Africa is not high, with an expected GDP growth rate of 1.1% in 2018 &#8211; one of the lowest in sub-Saharan Africa<\/a><\/strong>. The group expects the 2017 GDP figures to show just 0.8% growth for the year. It said that business sentiment in South Africa was still low, but improving.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South Africa\u2019s rand strengthened on Tuesday, touching its highest level in two sessions, after rumours that President Jacob Zuma had stepped down spurred a temporary rally in the currency against the greenback. <strong><a href=\"http:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Wednesday, the rand was at R12.35 to the dollar, R16.71 to the pound and R14.74 to the euro.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Zuma is finally setting up a state capture commission, but there are worries that evidence may have been tampered with or lost; Aspen shoots down speculation that it could be the next Steinhoff; there is reportedly an urgent behind-the-scenes bid to get Zuma to resign; and the World Bank expects 1.1% growth for SA in 2018.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":168963,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-218635","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-government"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218635","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=218635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":218645,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/218635\/revisions\/218645"}],"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=218635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=218635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=218635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}