{"id":379459,"date":"2020-03-06T06:58:16","date_gmt":"2020-03-06T04:58:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=379459"},"modified":"2020-03-06T09:13:50","modified_gmt":"2020-03-06T07:13:50","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-750","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/379459\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-750\/","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<hr \/>\n<p><strong>Load shedding:<\/strong> No load shedding is expected today or over the weekend.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Keep calm:<\/strong> Health minister Dr Zweli Mkhize has called for calm and no panic in the wake of the first case of the Covid-19 coronavirus in South Africa. He said the country&#8217;s healthcare systems will be put to the test, but everything is being done to contain the virus. The confirmed case has self isolated &#8211; and so has the doctor that treated him. Tracer teams have been dispatched to track who he had been in contact with, so the necessary containment measures can take place. Almost 100,000 are infected globally, with over 3,300 deaths. [<a href=\"https:\/\/af.reuters.com\/article\/southAfricaNews\/idAFL8N2AY4SE\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Under administration:<\/strong> For the first time since the dawn of democracy in South Africa, one of the country&#8217;s main metros &#8211; Tshwane &#8211; has been placed under administration, and will now have to enter into early elections, almost a full year before the rest of the country will head to the polls in 2021. According to the administrative processes, elections need to be held within 90 days of being placed under curatorship. The city was placed under administration because it has no mayor or municipal manager. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2020-03-05-tshwane-to-head-to-the-polls-within-three-months\/\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>As clear as mud:<\/strong> While the ANC and the EFF have the required two-thirds majority in parliament to push through changes to the Constitution on land expropriation, the two parties may not be on the same page regarding which land should be expropriated. The EFF wants all land in the country open to expropriation &#8211; while the ANC&#8217;s known position is only unused and state land. When pushed by groups seeking clarity during public hearing on the matter, the ANC has so far, been unable to give a clear answer. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/politics\/2020-03-05-anc-and-eff-differ-on-which-land-should-be-expropriated-without-compensation\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Saving SAA:<\/strong> SAA&#8217;s business rescue practitioners have broadly identified three routes to saving the airline: the first is to cut the airline&#8217;s non-performing routes, and greatly streamlining operations; another option is to close the SAA operations entirely to make way for Mango to take charge; the third is a worst-case option to liquidate SAA entirely. The last resort option would see almost 9,000 job losses and would never find support from government. The administrators have until the end of March to table the plans for feedback. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2020-03-05-the-plan-to-rescue-saa-from-collapse-takes-shape\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s rand weakened against the dollar on Thursday after the government confirmed the country\u2019s first case of coronavirus. The announcement of the first case has put markets on edge, with many questioning the ability of government to deal with a breakout in South Africa efficiently. The spread of the virus globally has hit markets hard, with groups like the IMF cutting global growth forecasts as a result. On Friday the rand was at R15.69 to the dollar, R20.33 to the pound and R17.63 to the euro. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.xe.com\/currencyconverter\/convert\/?Amount=1&amp;From=USD&amp;To=ZAR\">XE<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Government calls for calm over the coronavirus, but warns South Africans to be prepared; Tshwane administration means elections need to be held within 90 days; what land does the ANC want to expropriate? They&#8217;re not telling; three plans to save SAA &#8211; but don&#8217;t expect government to support the worst-case scenario.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":369110,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-379459","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379459","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=379459"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":379577,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379459\/revisions\/379577"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/369110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=379459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=379459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=379459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}