{"id":428968,"date":"2020-08-27T07:14:17","date_gmt":"2020-08-27T05:14:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=428968"},"modified":"2020-08-27T07:14:17","modified_gmt":"2020-08-27T05:14:17","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-869","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/428968\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-869\/","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 Covid-19<\/a> infections have hit 23.9 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 820,000. In <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1298703287588392960\/photo\/1\">South Africa<\/a>, there have been 2,684 new cases, taking the total reported to 615,701. Deaths have reached 13,502 (an increase of 194), while recoveries have climbed to 525,242, leaving the country with a balance of 76,957 active cases.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>TERS delay<\/strong>: The suspension on government&#8217;s TERS Covid relief payments has be been lifted, after a 24 hour delay. Payments were halted after the Auditor General of South Africa picked up inconsistencies in the scheme &#8211; such as payments being made to minors, the deceased or the elderly. The scheme is being audited along with many other finance mechanisms. The UIF asked beneficiaries to bear with the delays, as they are in place to ensure everything is above board and makes the scheme stronger. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/uif-lifts-suspension-on-ters-benefit\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Losing patience<\/strong>: Patience is quickly running out on government&#8217;s response to corruption, with worker federation Cosatu calling on government, and president Cyril Ramaphosa in particular, to stop tip-toeing around the issue and take decisive action. The federation slammed government&#8217;s propensity to keep those accused of or blatantly involved in corrupt activities within its ranks, as well as its &#8220;phoney outrage&#8221; on the matter. It is also flexing its position, saying it will oppose any attempt to delay the 2021 elections. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2020-08-27-cosatu-berates-anc-for-phoney-outrage-over-corruption\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Piggy bank empty<\/strong>: The Department of Public Enterprises says the tanks and empty &#8211; there is no money to pay outstanding salaries of companies under its administration. This was noted in a letter to SA Express, which is currently in business rescue and is unable to pay staff. The department said that any agreements or funding commitments made to the airline were done before the Covid-19 crisis, and since then budgets have been cut and reprioritised, leaving nothing to send the airline&#8217;s way. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news\/public-enterprises-says-no-money-pay-outstanding-salaries\">Enca<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Caught out<\/strong>: After vehemently denying having benefited in any way from SAA contracts, a businessman in the aviation field got caught in his lie at the state capture commission when presented with his own banking statements showing R2.5 million in payments entering his personal bank account &#8211; authorised by his own daughter, from his own company, which had just scored an apparent R28.5 million kickback on a R1.5 billion SAA contract. The businessman said he doesn&#8217;t remember what happened. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/politics\/2020-08-26-state-capture-businessman-caught-paying-himself-r25m-of-saa-tender\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa\u2019s rand weakened on Wednesday after data showed consumer price inflation rose in July but not by enough to dampen expectations of further monetary policy easing. Headline consumer price inflation quickened to 3.2% year-on-year in July from 2.2% in June. Market expectations were for a 3.1% rise, well within the central bank\u2019s target of 3-6%. On Thursday the rand was at R16.87 to the dollar, R22.28 to the pound and R19.96 to the euro. Commentary by Reuters. [<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>TERS payments are back after a 24 hour delay; Cosatu is losing patience with government&#8217;s &#8216;phoney outrage&#8217; on corruption; the Department of Public Enterprises says the tanks are empty; and an aviation businessman got caught out in a blatant lie at the state capture commission.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":390529,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-428968","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\/428968","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=428968"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428968\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":428970,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428968\/revisions\/428970"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/390529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428968"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428968"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428968"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}