{"id":304676,"date":"2019-03-12T06:54:47","date_gmt":"2019-03-12T04:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=304676"},"modified":"2019-03-12T06:54:47","modified_gmt":"2019-03-12T04:54:47","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-511","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/304676\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-511\/","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:\/\/af.reuters.com\/article\/southAfricaNews\/idAFL3N20Y3E5\">Comair has grounded its Boeing 737 MAX aircraft<\/a><\/strong>, joining airlines around the world who have done the same following a horrific crash in Ethiopia that claimed over 150 lives. Investigations are underway to determine the exact cause of the crash, but pulling the 737 is a precaution. [Reuters]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Political experts say president Cyril <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.bloomberg.com\/news\/articles\/2019-03-11\/ramaphosa-s-economic-plans-blunted-by-foes-in-south-africa-s-anc\">Ramaphosa wants to revive South Africa&#8217;s struggling economy, but it being blocked and dragged down by opposing factions within the ANC<\/a><\/strong>. Despite taking the party&#8217;s top spot, his opponents remain in powerful positions. [Bloomberg]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Former acting Eskom boss Matshela Koko has been fingered as the key force behind power stations taking in poor quality coal from Gupta companies &#8211; and engaging in dodgy deals to win lucrative contracts for his family. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mg.co.za\/article\/2019-03-11-matshela-koko-i-am-a-victim\">Koko, however, maintains that he is the victim of a smear campaign.<\/a><\/strong> [Daily Maverick]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/city-press.news24.com\/News\/ambitious-eff-eyes-three-provinces-in-bid-to-drop-anc-support-below-50-20190312\">The EFF says it is making it its goal to bring the ANC to below 50% nationally<\/a><\/strong>, with the party eyeing three provinces in the upcoming elections where it can start to make this a reality. The party plans to form coalitions after the elections &#8211; but on condition that new leaders follow its values. [City Press]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South Africa\u2019s rand firmed on Monday, helped by increasing demand for emerging market currencies amid a slew of disappointing economic data in developed markets and growth warnings from central banks. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Tuesday the rand was at R14.29 to the dollar, R18.87 to the pound and R16.09 to the euro.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Comair grounds its 737 after horror Ethiopian Airlines crash; Ramaphosa wants to do right, but is being hamstrung by ANC factions, experts say; and former acting Eskom boss Matshela Koko says he&#8217;s a victim, as former execs point fingers at him for aiding Gupta corruption at Eskom.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":292854,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-304676","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\/304676","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=304676"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304676\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":304678,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/304676\/revisions\/304678"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/292854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=304676"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=304676"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=304676"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}