{"id":456330,"date":"2020-12-11T08:04:22","date_gmt":"2020-12-11T06:04:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=456330"},"modified":"2020-12-11T08:07:04","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T06:07:04","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-944","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/456330\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-944\/","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 68.62 million confirmed cases, with the death toll reaching 1,570,000. In <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/DrZweliMkhize\/status\/1337117441382559745\/photo\/1\">South Africa<\/a>, there have been 8,166 new cases, taking the total reported to 836,764. Deaths have reached 22,747 (a daily increase of 174), while recoveries have climbed to 756,671, leaving the country with a balance of 57,346 active cases.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Matric results<\/strong>: Exam quality assurer Umalusi says that the integrity of the 2020 matric maths and science exams has been irrevocably compromised, and a rewrite is the only way to correct this. Learners are set to rewrite the papers on 15 and 17 December, but it is being challenged in court by unions and civil groups. Umalusi said that it wouldn&#8217;t cause learners irreparable harm to rewrite the papers, but if results are withheld due to court action and review processes, all learners could risk not having their matric certificates until February 2021. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mg.co.za\/education\/2020-12-10-matric-results-may-be-withheld-if-rewrite-decision-is-set-aside\/\">M&amp;G<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SAA bailout<\/strong>: Unions are accusing government of blackmail and &#8216;playing chess&#8217; with workers&#8217; livelihoods when it comes to monies paid to SOEs like SAA &#8211; causing confusion and &#8216;chaos&#8217; among workers. The unions say that thousands of jobs were cut and salaries withheld to save SAA, but only enough money from the R10.5 billion bailout was given to pay some salaries in full. A lack of clarity as to where the funds would be allocated, has pitted workers against each other, they said &#8211; something the DPE is fully aware of. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/industrial\/gordhan-playing-chess-with-workers-livelihoods-says-numsa-20201210\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Better than reported<\/strong>: Economists are questioning apparent contradictions in Stats SA&#8217;s GDP data, saying that it doesn&#8217;t make sense that the construction industry is reported to have declined by 21%, when there has been a reported increase of 14.5% in the sale of construction and building materials in the same report. It is believed that Stats SA has thus severely underestimated construction sector activity in its latest report &#8211; likely because its surveys do not reach into the informal industry and activity taking place in rural areas. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/industry\/construction-sector-activity-grossly-underestimated-by-stats-sa\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Silence<\/strong>: ANC secretary general Ace Magashule has kept silent on his position in the party and the party&#8217;s policy for officials who have been charged with corruption to step aside. Magashule said that it was in the hands of the party&#8217;s &#8220;processes&#8221; and he had nothing more to add to it. President Cyril Ramaphosa this week reiterated the ANC&#8217;s position on weeding out corruption within its ranks, and the party&#8217;s NEC reaffirmed this. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2020\/12\/11\/there-s-nothing-i-can-say-magashule-mum-on-whether-he-ll-step-down\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The rand spent the greater part of Thursday trading around R15.03 against the US dollar, only to start retesting the R15.00 level again by market close. US equity markets were mixed overnight, with the NASDAQ leading the market higher. SA manufacturing production numbers came in at -3.4% compared to an expected -1.3% YoY for October. US Jobless claims came in worse than expected &#8211; four times worse than pre-Covid-19 levels. The rand starts the day at R15.01 to the dollar, R18.25 to the euro and R19.99 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>Umalusi says that matric results may be withheld if rewrites are set aside; unions says government is toying with desperate workers at SAA and its subsidiaries; economists say SA&#8217;s construction sector is doing better than Stats SA reports; and ANC SG Ace Magashule stays silent on stepping aside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":108219,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-456330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456330","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=456330"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456330\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":456366,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456330\/revisions\/456366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}