{"id":445010,"date":"2020-11-02T07:49:30","date_gmt":"2020-11-02T05:49:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=445010"},"modified":"2020-11-02T07:49:30","modified_gmt":"2020-11-02T05:49:30","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-915","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/445010\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-915\/","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 46.15 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 1,196,000. In <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1322971096916832257\/photo\/1\">South Africa<\/a>, there have been 1,371 new cases, taking the total reported to 726,823. Deaths have reached 19,411 (a daily increase of 135), while recoveries have climbed to 655,330, leaving the country with a balance of 52,082 active cases.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Harder lockdown<\/strong>: Officials have warned of a harder lockdown in Nelson Mandela Bay, as the number of active Covid-19 cases has spiked due to &#8216;general non-compliance&#8217; with regulations and prevention methods. Acting executive mayor Thsonono Buyeye said while harder lockdown would not be ideal, it is something that needs to be explored as cases rapidly rise. This is the second time a harder lockdown has been brought up, following mentions by KZN premier Sihle Zikalala. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2020-11-01-nelson-mandela-bay-warned-of-possible-stricter-lockdown\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Unpaid bills<\/strong>: Eskom has defended its move to clamp down on municipalities which are not paying their electricity bills. Municipal debt has grown by 35% since 2016, with Eskom now owed over R31.5 billion. The power utility has taken to court action to recoup debt, as well as attaching assets held by municipalities to force payment. Municipalities, meanwhile, say they are struggling to pay due to financial difficulties, and are complaining about the interest charges Eskom slaps onto bills. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/municipalities-owe-eskom-r31-5bn\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Matrics<\/strong>: 1.1 million matriculants will start their final exams this week, marking off a year of disruption and uncertainty. Matric exams kick off on Thursday 5 November, and will run until 15 December. The Council for Quality Assurance in Education, Umalusi, has declared itself ready to administer the final national senior certificate exams despite the disruption caused by Covid-19, saying its system has not collapsed, despite shortcomings. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2020\/11\/02\/after-covid-19-hit-academic-year-matrics-set-to-begin-final-exams-this-week\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>DA leader<\/strong>: The DA has elected John Steenhuisen as its leader &#8211; winning his battle against Mbali Ntuli for the party&#8217;s top position with an 80% share of the vote. Steenhuisen said that the party will never turn its back on its core principles, and ensured that it was not just a party for white people. The DA&#8217;s virtual conference was attended by 2,000 delegates who cast their vote. Steenhuisen has been acting as leader since former head, Mmusi Maimane resigned and quit the party in October 2019. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news\/da-stay-true-its-core-principles-steenhuisen\">ENCA<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: It\u2019s all eyes on the US presidential election, as the Republicans and Democrats put in their final bids to win over voters. Chinese Caixin Manufacturing PMI rose for the 6th consecutive month in October, indicating a robust manufacturing sector in China. Locally we will have the release of Absa PMI and total new vehicle sales, followed by US PMI. The rand is steady ahead of the US election, however, prepare for an increase in volatility. We start the day at R16.24 to the dollar, R18.91 to the euro and R21.01 to the pound. Commentary by 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>Nelson Mandela Bay&#8217;s acting mayor warns of a return to hard lockdown, following a spike in active cases; Eskom has defended its move to come down hard on municipalities that aren&#8217;t paying their bills; it&#8217;s exam week for matrics, with finals kicking off on Thursday; and the DA has elected its new leader: John Steenhuisen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":130688,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-445010","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\/445010","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=445010"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":445078,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/445010\/revisions\/445078"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/130688"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=445010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=445010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=445010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}