{"id":511412,"date":"2021-08-06T07:55:15","date_gmt":"2021-08-06T05:55:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=511412"},"modified":"2021-08-06T07:55:15","modified_gmt":"2021-08-06T05:55:15","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1097","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/511412\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1097\/","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>: In South Africa, there have been 13,777 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 2,497,655. Deaths have reached 73,873 (+458), while recoveries have climbed to 2,268,085, leaving the country with a balance of 155,697 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 8,377,606 (+195,226).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Cabinet reshuffle<\/strong>: President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s cabinet reshuffle has been broadly welcomed, though not without its sore points over a few surprises. Most notably, many in the economic sector are disappointed to see finance minister Tito Mboweni exit the portfolio &#8211; while parliamentarians are calling the move of Thandi Modise from her position as speaker to the defence department as a major loss for the national legislature. Another surprise move by the president was doing away with the state security department, and moving its function to the presidency. Some have characterised this as the president consolidating power. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2021-08-06-speaker-modises-surprise-move-is-good-for-department-of-defence-but-a-blow-for-parliament\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/ramaphosa-does-away-with-intelligence-ministry-ssa-to-report-directly-to-him-20210805\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tough job<\/strong>: Incoming finance minister Enoch Godongwana will have his work cut out for him, entering the portfolio during a time of mixed fortunes. While he will be taking up the position as the country enjoys better than expected tax revenues amid booming commodity prices, he also has the unenviable task of balancing South Africa&#8217;s budget by reducing government spending. This means dealing with unions and the wage bill &#8211; the proverbial axe constantly hanging over the government&#8217;s neck. While Tito Mboweni&#8217;s exit was a bit of a surprise, it was not entirely unexpected, as the reluctant minister is said to have been looking for an exit for a few years. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/economy\/ramaphosa-reshuffle-mboweni-exits-godongwana-new-finmin\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Falling on his sword:<\/strong> Former health minister Zweli Mkhize fell on his sword ahead of the president Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s cabinet reshuffle on Thursday evening, resigning from his position amid the Digital Vibes scandal, which saw the politician and his family benefit from multi-million contracts at the health department handed to his associates. Mkhize has been characterised as a ruthless politician behind the scenes and was seen by many in political circles as a viable successor to president Cyril Ramaphosa as the next leader of the ANC. Analysts say it&#8217;s too early to tell if the Digital Vibes scandal has ended his political career. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sunday-times-daily\/politics\/2021-08-05-mkhize-behind-the-scenes-the-kingmaker-came-so-close-to-the-throne\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Warned<\/strong>: New reports presented by the government&#8217;s security cluster show that the police and other security forces were warned well ahead of time of growing unrest in the country &#8211; before riots and looting broke out in the middle of July. The State Security Agency was sending daily information about unrest as early as 3 July, which included locations of potential flare-ups and suggestions for increased police visibility. When the riots eventually broke out, security forces were slow to respond and did little to stop the R50 billion worth of damage that was caused. Following the events, security leaders instead started blaming each other for the lack of action. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2021-08-05-report-reveals-police-were-warned-to-prepare-for-protest\/\">BusinessLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: Markets reacted poorly to the exit of finance minister Tito Mboweni from the portfolio, weakening to around R14.75 to the dollar before regaining some of its composure and settling around R14.60. It was trading closer to R14.40 during the course of the day on Thursday. Mboweni, seen as very market-friendly, has been replaced by the chair of the ANC&#8217;s economic committee, Enock Godongwana, who is seen as a centrist and pragmatic voice within the party when it comes to finances and economics. On Friday, the rand was trading at R14.52\/$, R17.18\/\u20ac and R20.22\/\u00a3.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ramaphosa&#8217;s cabinet reshuffle brings welcome changes &#8211; and some surprises; the incoming finance minister faces a tough job ahead; Mkhize falls on his sword; new reports show that the government&#8217;s security cluster was warned of potential uprising and unrest well before it happened.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":511442,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-511412","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\/511412","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=511412"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":511444,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/511412\/revisions\/511444"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/511442"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=511412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=511412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=511412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}