{"id":290074,"date":"2018-12-10T07:33:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-10T05:33:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=290074"},"modified":"2018-12-10T07:51:16","modified_gmt":"2018-12-10T05:51:16","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-449","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/290074\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-449\/","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:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2018\/12\/10\/concerns-raised-over-increased-crime-activity-during-load-shedding\">Along with the inconvenience and frustration of load shedding, police are also reporting higher rates of crime while rolling blackouts are in effect.<\/a><\/strong> The national police service has warned citizens to be on high alert over the festive season, particularly when on holiday and letting your guard down. [EWN]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/business-report\/economy\/relief-for-the-indebted-as-court-rules-to-reduce-interest-on-short-term-loans-18438761\">Relief for those in debt is on the way following a court ruling dismissing a challenge to new regulations that will reduce the monthly interest rate<\/a><\/strong> on short term loans. Micro lenders challenged the move saying it would put them out of business. [IOL]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Further investigations into ties between the EFF and the VBS looting scandal have revealed that <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2018-12-09-along-with-the-r16-1m-in-illicit-payments-vbs-approved-brian-shivambus-1-46m-home-loan-with-a-little-help-from-ubhuti-ka-brian\/\">the failed bank helped EFF deputy Floyd Shivambu with a R1.46 million home loan &#8211; despite not qualifying<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; which is registered to a slash fund managed by Shivambu&#8217;s brother, Brian. [Daily Maverick]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Disgraced auditing firm KPMG is trying to salvage its damaged reputation in South Africa, with the group&#8217;s chairman publishing<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/business-report\/companies\/kpmg-a-different-company-now-chairperson-18439306\"> an open letter to South Africans, apologising for the group&#8217;s scandals, saying that it is a different company now<\/a><\/strong>. The group is also donating R47 million in ill-gains from the Guptas to NGOs. [ANA]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South Africa\u2019s rand gained against a softer dollar on Friday as bond yields fell and stocks rebounded, however, the currency remained on track for its worst weekly performance since early October. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Monday the rand was trading at R14.13 to the dollar, R18.01 to the pound and R16.14 to the euro.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Police warn of higher crime rates during load shedding; debt relief is coming for South Africans, after the DTI won a court battle to change the monthly interest rate on short-term loans; new investigation ties VBS home loans to the EFF&#8217;s Floyd Shivambu; and KPMG is trying to salvage its reputation in SA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":75316,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-290074","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290074","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=290074"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290074\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":290116,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/290074\/revisions\/290116"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75316"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=290074"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=290074"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=290074"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}