{"id":448210,"date":"2020-11-13T07:49:55","date_gmt":"2020-11-13T05:49:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=448210"},"modified":"2020-11-13T07:49:55","modified_gmt":"2020-11-13T05:49:55","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-924","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/448210\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-924\/","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 52.14 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 1,284,600. In <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1326955432678731791\/photo\/1\">South Africa<\/a>, there have been 2,338 new cases, taking the total reported to 744,732. Deaths have reached 20,076 (a daily increase of 65), while recoveries have climbed to 690,903, leaving the country with a balance of 33,753 active cases.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Second wave<\/strong>: Health experts say that it&#8217;s a foregone conclusion that the Eastern Cape will experience a second wave of Covid-19 infections &#8211; but the scale and severity of it can be significantly reduced by people adhering to the social distancing measures in place. Despite the easing of lockdown level 1, EC metros have applied to the NCCC to have the curfew in the province moved back to 22h00. Infections are already rising, with estimates that 11% of events in major metros causing 80% of current infections. Aside from the Free State, the rest of SA is stable. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2020-11-12-nelson-mandela-bay-lockdown-will-only-do-harm-at-this-point-says-prof-madhi\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Crisis<\/strong>: Economists are bleak on South Africa&#8217;s employment prospects after the latest data from Stats SA revealed that the country lost approximately 2.6 million jobs since lockdown &#8211; with economic growth too low to see this reversed in any short term. It&#8217;s projected that South Africa&#8217;s employment levels will only return to pre-lockdown levels in 2 to 3 years, leaving many in a vulnerable position. Government is also not in a position to create permanent jobs, but the 800,000 jobs promised by the president seen as a temporary stimulus to help people out short-term. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/moneyweb-radio\/safm-market-update\/government-is-not-in-a-position-to-create-jobs\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Alcohol sales<\/strong>: Despite alcohol sales returning to normal hours, the restaurant industry says that it may be too late for many businesses, as eateries continue to struggle and shake off the damage done by the nationwide lockdown and alcohol ban that had been in place for months. The industry said that many restaurants are struggling to keep staff, negotiate lower rents, and find financial support from government. Big name and popular restaurants have already closed down. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2020\/11\/13\/restaurant-industry-still-in-very-dark-waters-rasa\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Ace in the dock<\/strong>: ANC secretary-general Ace Magashule will appear in court today on charges of corruption, related to a R224 million asbestos eradication tender in the Free State from 2014, when he was premier of the province. Magashule says he is being targeted politically, and maintains he has done nothing wrong, so he has nothing to fear. Magashule is the seventh person arrested in connection with the contract, where only R7 million of the full tender was actually used to do the job, ineffectively. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/politics\/2020-11-13-all-eyes-on-bloemfontein-as-ace-magashule-to-appear-in-court-on-corruption-rap\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The week is drawing to a fairly quietly end, with markets looking for fresh direction following the US election and the risk rally running its course. The focus shifts to next week\u2019s SARB\u00a0 MPC meeting, while markets will keep an eye on potential further political fallout in the US. EU GDP and employment are due today, while PPI is due from the US. The rand starts the day at R15.65 to the dollar, R18.48 to the euro and R20.53 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>A second wave is inevitable in the Eastern Cape, experts say, but social distancing can soften the blow; economists are not optimistic about jobs in South Africa; restaurants say weekend alcohol sales won&#8217;t magically save the industry; and Ace Magashule is expected in court today on corruption charges.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":441182,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-448210","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\/448210","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=448210"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448210\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":448228,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/448210\/revisions\/448228"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/441182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=448210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=448210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=448210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}