{"id":536170,"date":"2021-11-10T07:47:42","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T05:47:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=536170"},"modified":"2021-11-10T07:56:19","modified_gmt":"2021-11-10T05:56:19","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1162","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/536170\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1162\/","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 245 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 2,924,317. Deaths have reached 89,387 (+35), while recoveries have climbed to 2,818,612, leaving the country with a balance of 16,318 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 23,402,284 (+137,292).<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>On edge:<\/strong> While it is no secret that Eskom&#8217;s power grid is incredibly vulnerable and under strain, revelations from the group this week showed exactly how fine a line it is treading daily. So much so that a power trip in Zambia had a cascading effect on the local power supply, which ultimately led to stage 4 load shedding hitting this week. The imported power from Zambia is typically stable and gives Eskom room to breathe. However, for the relatively short period it was out, Eskom&#8217;s hydro and gas solutions could barely cover the shortfall. Experts say Eskom has to be more conservative with its emergency solutions, while worries over diesel shortages persist. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/for-the-first-time-there-is-real-concern-about-the-stability-of-the-grid\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dead horse:<\/strong> Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says he will not resign of his own accord because there&#8217;s no use putting a new jockey on a dead horse. The CEO was responding to calls from unions and business groups that he fall on his sword over load shedding &#8211; where 2021 has been the worst year for blackouts on record. De Ruyter said he serves at the behest of the Eskom board, and if they want him gone, that is a decision they must make. However, he said that it&#8217;s more important to have continuity in management, as the many executive changes in the last decade have only contributed to the company&#8217;s instability. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/economy\/eskom\/no-use-changing-jockeys-on-a-dead-horse-says-eskoms-de-ruyter-amid-calls-to-step-down-20211109\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Green<\/strong>: Energy minister Gwede Mantashe has taken a vocal &#8216;anti-west&#8217; stance at an energy investment conference this week, calling for African nations to come together to ward off &#8216;rich nations&#8217; who he says are encircling the continent with pro-renewable energy agendas. Mantashe says that Africa is being made the scapegoat as a global polluter and being compelled to abandon fossil fuels. However, he notes that industrialised nations are yet to do the same and instead keep shifting the goalposts or postponing deadlines. Mantashe has remained firm in his defence of using fossil fuels. However, analysts point out that many investors and finance groups are actively moving away from financing such projects. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2021-11-09-gwede-mantashe-calls-for-a-unified-african-fossil-fuel-front-while-rich-world-encircles-continent\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Coalitions:<\/strong> Coalition talks between parties continue, with the kingmaker in Gauteng &#8211; Action SA &#8211; in active talks with the Democratic Alliance and the Economic Freedom Fighters. Action SA leader Herman Mashaba left the DA in 2019, citing the election of Helen Zille as Federal Chair as the reason. His concern was that under Zille, inequality and poverty would not be a priority. While Mashaba considers his past with the DA &#8216;water under the bridge&#8217;, he says that negotiations will put the poor front and centre. The party is also in talks with the EFF, though it says it has some reservations so far. Action SA won&#8217;t work with the ANC, and the DA refuses to work with the ANC or EFF. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2021\/11\/10\/mashaba-actionsa-open-to-da-coalition-talks-but-conditions-apply\">EWN<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.702.co.za\/articles\/431830\/action-sa-in-coalition-talks-with-parties-nothing-finalised?ref=pid:94\">702<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa&#8217;s rand dropped back on Tuesday, losing ground won earlier in the week, as damaging local power cuts were scheduled to continue until the weekend, and investors awaited key US inflation data to gauge the Federal Reserve&#8217;s next move. Investors are waiting for US inflation data due on Wednesday when a strong reading could reignite talk of the Fed raising interest rates sooner than expected. Local investors will also be watching finance minister Enoch Godongwana&#8217;s maiden Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement (MTBPS) expected on Thursday. On Wednesday, the rand was trading at R15.08\/$, R17.47\/\u20ac and R20.44\/\u00a3. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-drops-as-power-cuts-continue\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The past week has shown how truly vulnerable Eskom&#8217;s power supply is; De Ruyter says he won&#8217;t resign; Mantashe doubles down on his defence of fossil fuels; and Action SA has become kingmaker in Gauteng, and is being approached by the DA and EFF.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":519942,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-536170","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\/536170","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=536170"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536170\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":536232,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/536170\/revisions\/536232"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519942"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=536170"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=536170"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=536170"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}