{"id":474508,"date":"2021-03-10T07:58:20","date_gmt":"2021-03-10T05:58:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=474508"},"modified":"2021-03-10T07:58:20","modified_gmt":"2021-03-10T05:58:20","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-995","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/474508\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-995\/","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>: Global Covid-19 infections have hit 118.2 million confirmed, with the death toll reaching 2.62 million. In South Africa, there have been 991 new cases, taking the total reported to 1,522,697. Deaths have reached 50,906 (a daily increase of 103), while recoveries have climbed to 1,444,282, leaving the country with a balance of 27,509 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 118 247.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Pre-crisis:<\/strong> While many people think South Africa is in crisis, economist and deputy chair of the South African Institute of International Affairs, Moletsi Mbeki says that the country is in fact in a &#8216;pre-crisis&#8217; position. Mbeki said that there is a war being waged between the business and political elite in the country, where one has to emerge has the victor. However, in the meantime, the tax base is leaving the country and capital is flow out. He said the only solution is to focus on economic growth, instead of political and racial battles. But given the country&#8217;s history, that is unlikely. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/economy\/moeletsi-mbeki-bee-and-affirmative-action-are-biggest-drivers-of-corruption-in-sa-20210309\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Doubts:<\/strong> Ratings agencies doubt that finance minister Tito Mboweni will meet his 2021 budget targets, highlighting the various challenges faced by South Africa in trying to stabilise its debt. Mboweni said that South Africa&#8217;s debt-to-GDP ratio will peak at 88.9% in 2023, down from estimates of 95.3% six months ago. However, S&amp;P Global said that Mboweni&#8217;s plans are more about budget control than actual economic reform, and so expectations are low for any sustained rebound in growth going forward. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/article\/uk-safrica-economy-ratings\/south-africas-budget-was-an-exercise-in-fiscal-control-sp-global-rating-idUSKBN2B11WW\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Blame game:<\/strong> Former Eskom and Transnet CEO Brian Molefe has shifted the blame for millions of rands paid to Gupta-linked companies, to former Eskom and Transnet CFO, Anoj Singh. During his time at Transnet, Molefe signed a memorandum quintupling payments to Gupta-linked Regiments Capital. However, Molefe said he had trusted his colleagues, Singh in particular, to ensure everything was above board, and that the work that was claimed to have been done, was done. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2021-03-09-brian-molefe-says-he-trusted-anoj-singh-on-regiments-r78m-fee-boost\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Zuma:<\/strong> Divisions within the ANC continue to show through, as NEC members break from the party line to criticise leadership for entertaining former president Jacob Zuma&#8217;s defiance of the country&#8217;s laws. ANC NEC member Mondli Gungubele said having party secretary general Ace Magashule tell the nation that the ANC is giving Zuma &#8216;space&#8217; to defy the courts and the Constitution, is a source of discomfort. He said the ANC does not have internal structures that can resolve legal issues, and that the Zuma matter must be dealt with in the courts. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2021\/03\/09\/gungubele-left-discomfitted-by-magashule-communicating-anc-s-position-on-zuma\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: Yesterday\u2019s rally extended in the overnight session as the rand clawed back ground to trade at R15.28\/$ at one point, while US treasury yields retreated after recently reaching a more than 12-month high. Chinese PPI and CPI released this morning marginally outperformed expectations. US CPI is expected in this afternoon. The rand starts the day at R15.33 to the dollar, R18.22 to the euro and R21.26 to the pound. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.citadelglobal.co.za\/\">Citadel Global<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa is in a pre-crisis position, says deputy chair of the South African Institute of International Affairs, Moletsi Mbeki; ratings agencies aren&#8217;t holding much hope that South Africa will meet its budget targets; former Eskom and Transnet CEO Brian Molefe plays the blame game at the state capture commission; and ANC NEC members lash out at the top six&#8217;s position on Zuma.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":472630,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-474508","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\/474508","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=474508"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474508\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":474558,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/474508\/revisions\/474558"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472630"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=474508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=474508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=474508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}