{"id":256281,"date":"2018-07-04T07:48:03","date_gmt":"2018-07-04T05:48:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=256281"},"modified":"2018-07-04T07:48:03","modified_gmt":"2018-07-04T05:48:03","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-338","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/256281\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-338\/","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=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2018-07-03\/south-africa-s-eskom-is-said-to-consider-debt-extension-layoffs\">Eskom is reportedly considering tariff hikes, layoffs and asking for debt extensions to combat its current financial troubles.<\/a><\/strong> According to people familiar with the talks, about 15,000 workers could be affected &#8211; while tariff hikes and recovering unpaid bills could boost revenue by 50%. [Bloomberg]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/2018-07-04-this-is-why-im-striking--uber-driver-explains-how-petrol-hikes-have-nearly-crippled-him\/\">Striking Uber drivers have revealed a massive drop in income due to rising petrol costs, and are demanding that the ride-sharing company drop their take from 25% to 15%<\/a><\/strong>. Some drivers had experienced a drop in weekly takings from R3,500 to just R500. [TimesLive]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/capetimes\/news\/water-restrictions-to-be-reviewed-only-after-rainy-season-15816030\">Despite rainfall hitting Cape Town pushing &#8216;day zero&#8217; off the map until after 2019, officials have warned that water restrictions will only be reviewed after the rainy season<\/a><\/strong>. Analysts have warned that there is a false sense of security around water now that it&#8217;s raining, and the Western Cape is just one poor rainy season away from crisis again. [IOL]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mg.co.za\/article\/2018-07-03-sassa-urges-patience-assures-grants-will-be-paid-despite-difficulties\">Sassa grants recipients may struggle to draw their funds as the group moves over to a new system<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; while a strike by its workers looms. Sassa said that beneficiaries will be paid in full, but may have to wait a few days for that to happen. [Mail &amp; Guardian]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South Africa\u2019s rand firmed on Tuesday, helped by a weaker dollar as investors awaited minutes of the US Federal Reserve\u2019s June meeting and jobs data that should confirm whether policymakers will raise interest rates twice this year. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Wednesday the rand was at R13.63 to the dollar, R18.00 to the pound and R15.91 to the euro.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eskom is reportedly looking at tariff hikes and laying off workers to combat its financial woes; A massive loss in income is driving the Uber strike in SA; while Cape Town&#8217;s dams are filling, restrictions will only be reviewed after the rainfall season; Sassa payments delayed by systems changes &#8211; while a strike by workers looms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":72374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,11121],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-256281","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-finance","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256281","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=256281"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256281\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":256289,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/256281\/revisions\/256289"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/72374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=256281"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=256281"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=256281"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}