{"id":338407,"date":"2019-09-03T07:15:43","date_gmt":"2019-09-03T05:15:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=338407"},"modified":"2019-09-03T07:15:43","modified_gmt":"2019-09-03T05:15:43","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-628","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/338407\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-628\/","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.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2019-09-03-tito-mbowenis-economic-plan-landed-like-a-political-bomb-will-it-be-defused\/\">Finance minister Tito Mboweni&#8217;s economic reform document is coming under scrutiny,<\/a><\/strong> with the minister having to present it to the ANC&#8217;s top 6 this week, with questions being raised as to whether it could ever be implemented at all. The 77-page policy was dropped unexpectedly and has left the governing party divided. The plan has been outright rejected by unions. Businesses have welcomed the plan. [Daily Maverick]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.iol.co.za\/news\/politics\/over-45-of-sabc-expenditure-goes-to-salaries-zondo-commission-hears-31741804\">The SABC is having its turn at the state capture commission, telling of political interference and being left out in the cold<\/a> <\/strong>by government despite promises of aid. The group is awaiting a R3.2 billion cash injection, with aid promised if the board met 11 conditions &#8211; which it says it has. Currently the group can only pay salaries, which make up 45% of its total expenditure. [IOL]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>Despite making a show of ridding government of &#8216;failed&#8217; politicians, president Cyril Ramaphosa is now reportedly sitting with documents awaiting his signature <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2019-09-03-fired-cabinet-ministers-to-be-resurrected-as-ambassadors-say-diplomats\/\">to send the likes of Bathabile Dlamini and Siyabonga Cwele to other countries as ambassadors<\/a><\/strong> &#8211; keeping them on government&#8217;s payroll. Insiders at Dirco are worried that this will send the wrong message and hamper South Africa&#8217;s investment drive. [Daily Maverick]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/af.reuters.com\/article\/southAfricaNews\/idAFL5N25T3GL\">Stats SA will publish second quarter GDP figures today<\/a><\/strong>, with economists expecting the country to avoid recession. South Africa&#8217;s economy contracted 3.2% in the first quarter, hit by nationwide power outages by cash-strapped state power firm Eskom. A Reuters poll of economists forecasts Q2 GDP expanding 2.4%. [Reuters]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ul>\n<li>South Africa\u2019s rand traded sideways on Monday, with investors holding fire ahead of second quarter economic growth figures that could help gauge the future direction for the currency. <strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">On Tuesday the rand was at R15.27 to the dollar, R18.38 to the pound and R16.70 to the euro.<\/a><\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mboweni&#8217;s economic plan now under the political microscope; the SABC says government has left it out in the cold as it struggles to keep afloat; fired ministers could find themselves representing South Africa in other countries; and GDP data expected today.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":279621,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-338407","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\/338407","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=338407"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338407\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":338431,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338407\/revisions\/338431"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/279621"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}