{"id":447888,"date":"2020-11-12T07:50:20","date_gmt":"2020-11-12T05:50:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=447888"},"modified":"2020-11-12T07:50:20","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T05:50:20","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-923","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/447888\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-923\/","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 51.6 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 1,274,300. In <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1326619396299759616\/photo\/1\">South Africa<\/a>, there have been 2,140 new cases, taking the total reported to 742,394. Deaths have reached 20,011 (a daily increase of 60), while recoveries have climbed to 686,458, leaving the country with a balance of 35,925 active cases.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Welcome relief<\/strong>: Businesses have welcomed the easing of lockdown level 1 restrictions announced by president Cyril Ramaphosa on Wednesday, saying that the opening of hours in which to sell alcohol will bring economic relief to liquor stores and other businesses, while the removal of the travel &#8216;red-list&#8217; will be a massive boost to the tourism industry, especially as we enter the festive season. The president warned, however, that social distancing and hygiene measures are paramount, to make the looser restrictions work. [<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/447826\/ramaphosa-eases-lockdown-level-1-restrictions-including-international-travel-and-alcohol-sales\/\">BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Surge:<\/strong> Even as lockdown restrictions ease, alarm bells are ringing in the Eastern Cape as Covid-19 infections surge, and healthcare facilities start to buckle under the pressure. The province has picked up a rapid rise in infections in Port Elizabeth, Uitenhage and Despatch, noting that citizens are not complying with social distancing regulations. Healthcare facilities report being at capacity, and having to cancel other procedures to deal with the surge. Doctors described the entire province as a hotspot. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2020-11-11-health-crisis-nelson-mandela-bay-sends-out-sos-as-active-covid-19-cases-approach-6000\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>&#8216;Step aside&#8217; steps aside<\/strong>: The ANC has quickly walked back on its &#8216;step aside&#8217; rule, which required members who faced charges of corruption or other crimes to step down from their positions until their names were cleared. The rule was adopted by the party&#8217;s NEC as part of a new aggressive approach to tackling corruption within the party. However, after party secretary general Ace Magashule faced arrest on corruption charges, the NEC has opted to drop the approach, and rather wait for legal processes to play out first. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.702.co.za\/articles\/401327\/anc-backtracks-on-august-corruption-directive-ace-magashule-to-stay-in-office?ref=pid:93\">702<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Major contradiction<\/strong>: Analysts are highlighting a massive contradiction in South Africa&#8217;s economic recovery plan, that appears to put president Cyril Ramaphosa and finance minister Tito Mboweni at odds with each other. While the president talks up expanding government employment &#8211; adding 800,000 new jobs &#8211; and spending billions on investment in infrastructure, the finance minister is dealing with cutting the government wage bill, and reining in spending. Analysts note that government simply cannot have it both ways. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/moneyweb-opinion\/columnists\/misdiagnosing-the-cause-of-the-countrys-economic-woes\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The rand held steady as President Ramaphosa addressed the nation on the local Covid-19 situation, bringing much relief to the alcohol and tourism sectors. UK GDP and manufacturing production are due today, followed by local gold and mining production as well as unemployment data, followed by US jobless claims. The rand starts the day at R15.65 to the dollar, R18.43 to the euro and R20.67 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>Businesses are very happy about the eased lockdown restrictions, saying it will boost the economy; however, alarm bells ring in the Eastern Cape as Covid infections surge; the ANC drops its &#8216;step aside&#8217; rule as Magashule faces corruption charges; and analysts are scratching their heads over how government plans to cut and increase spending at the same time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":423010,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-447888","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\/447888","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=447888"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447888\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":447930,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/447888\/revisions\/447930"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/423010"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=447888"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=447888"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=447888"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}