{"id":408961,"date":"2020-06-19T07:04:53","date_gmt":"2020-06-19T05:04:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=408961"},"modified":"2020-06-19T07:04:53","modified_gmt":"2020-06-19T05:04:53","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-821","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/408961\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-821\/","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>Coronavirus<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecdc.europa.eu\/en\/geographical-distribution-2019-ncov-cases\">Global<\/a> Covid-19 cases have passed 8.3 million in total, with the death toll climbing to almost 450,000. In <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/408901\/83890-confirmed-coronavirus-cases-in-south-africa-as-deaths-climb-to-1737\/\">South Africa<\/a>, another daily jump of over 3,400 cases takes the country&#8217;s total to 83,890. So far, 1,737 people have died from the virus, and 44,920 have recovered, leaving the country with 37,233 active cases that need to be resolved.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Better understanding:<\/strong> New studies and research are giving us a better understanding of the coronavirus, who it affects, and how it spreads. Research is confirming what infections patterns have shown &#8211; that young people under 20 are half as likely to catch the virus. Another study shows that you&#8217;re twice as likely to infect someone at home with Covid-19 than other diseases like the flu. Meanwhile, a South African healthcare survey warns that the country may not have the capacity to deal with the virus at its peak. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sunday-times\/lifestyle\/2020-06-17-people-under-20-half-as-likely-to-catch-covid-19-says-new-study\/\">TimesLive<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news\/study-shows-how-quickly-coronavirus-spreads-home\">ENCA<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/mg.co.za\/coronavirus-essentials\/2020-06-18-sa-accelerating-towards-virus-peak-without-capacity-experts-warn\/\">M&amp;G<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Waiting game<\/strong>: Following the announcement that more sectors of the economy will open up, these industries (restaurants, hotels, etc) are now waiting for clarity from government on what this entails. The industries are desperate for the information they need to open up, and patience is wearing thin. The tourism industry is seeking clarity on how exactly they&#8217;re allowed to operate, while the restaurant industry says it just needs a start date so that it can prepare to get back to work. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2020\/06\/18\/tourism-industry-wants-clarify-on-eased-level-3-lockdown-regulations\">EWN<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/moneyweb-radio\/safm-market-update\/are-sit-down-restaurants-ready-to-re-open\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Looters charged<\/strong>: The 8 men arrested for their role in the R2.2 billion looting of VBS bank have been formally charged in court, and are facing 41 counts of fraud, theft, money laundering, corruption and racketeering. The theft relates to the men setting up fake accounts at the bank for over 40 shelf companies, which siphoned out depositors&#8217; funds. The men fraudulently signed off on financial statements trying to hide this, were paid off to stay silent, and then used intermediaries and front companies to launder the funds, the charge sheet says. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2020-06-19-charges-against-vbs-eight-detail-theft-of-r2-2bn-and-fraud-for-trying-to-cover-it-all-up\/#gsc.tab=0\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Rejected:<\/strong> Unions have rejected the severance packages being offered by SAA as part of its business rescue plan &#8211; which would see about 80% of the failed airline&#8217;s workforce be given the chop, in the hopes that a more finely-tunes &#8216;new&#8217; state airline could emerge. Retrenched workers would be offered one week&#8217;s pay for every year worked at the airline as part of the package, which would amount to R2.2 billion in total. Unions say this is not enough. If SAA&#8217;s business rescue plan fails to get support, liquidation may be on the cards. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mg.co.za\/business\/2020-06-18-unions-reject-saa-severance-pay\/\">Mail &amp; Guardian<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s rand tumbled on Thursday despite the country loosening coronavirus restrictions as global risk sentiment was hurt again by fears of a second wave of infections. The rand ended Thursday another leg weaker as the dollar gained momentum, following the recent range-bound trading. On Friday the rand was at R17.45 to the dollar, R21.69 to the pound and R19.57 to the euro. Commentary by Reuters and Peregrine Treasury Solutions. [<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>New research and data is painting a better picture of the coronavirus &#8211; and South Africa&#8217;s readiness; announcing more sectors can open is great &#8211; but businesses are now desperate for details; the charge sheet for the VBS looters lists all the dark deeds of the accused; and unions are sticking over SAA retrenchments.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":390203,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-408961","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\/408961","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=408961"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":408963,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/408961\/revisions\/408963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390203"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=408961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=408961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=408961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}