{"id":554862,"date":"2022-02-02T08:03:20","date_gmt":"2022-02-02T06:03:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=554862"},"modified":"2022-02-02T08:03:20","modified_gmt":"2022-02-02T06:03:20","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1211","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/554862\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1211\/","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 3,085 new cases of Covid-19, taking the total reported to 3,608,307. Deaths have reached 95,288 (+195), while recoveries have climbed to 3,459,418, leaving the country with a balance of 53,601 active cases. The total number of vaccines administered is 29,957,898.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Petrol prices:<\/strong> South African motorists will have to contend with higher fuel prices today, but the Automobile Association warns that further hikes are on the cards. Prices are currently being driven higher by rising oil prices, which have reached around $90 a barrel. The AA says that this trend is unlikely to reverse any time soon, with an imbalance between supply and demand for oil in global markets compounded by socio-political tensions between Russia and Ukraine. While calls and petitions have been made for tax relief from the government, the AA also says this is unlikely to happen as the state desperately needs funds. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/economy\/petrol-is-getting-too-expensive-in-sa\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Dismal:<\/strong> Acting chief justice Raymond Zondo says that South Africa&#8217;s government has proven incapable of appointing CEOs and other officials to public enterprises and recommends that a board be set up to choose the right people for the job. Zondo&#8217;s comments were contained in the latest state capture report handed to president Cyril Ramaphosa on Tuesday. Zondo describes key SOEs as a dismal failure, with many rooted in corruption, collapsing, and needing to be bailed out by the National Treasury. These failures, however, start as soon as government officials and ministers get involved with appointing executives. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/politics\/2022-02-01-dismal-failure-zondo-says-executive-cant-be-trusted-with-soe-appointments\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Capture:<\/strong> Part 2 of the state capture report focuses on the corruption within the Department of Public Enterprises and the companies in its portfolio. Notably, the report makes findings against former public enterprise ministers Malusi Gigaba and Lynne Brown, saying they aided and abetted the state capture process as willing participants with close ties to the Guptas. Along with the former ministers, former president Jacob Zuma was again fingered as a key player in the saga, facilitating the deployment of these ministers and others, which led to the capture of key institutions and companies. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/state-capture-report-how-gigaba-and-brown-did-the-guptas-bidding-20220202\">News24<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/investigations\/state-capture-report-zuma-should-be-investigated-for-transnet-corruption-20220202\">2<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Legal bill:<\/strong> Public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane has been dealt yet another legal blow, with the Supreme Court of Appeal dismissing her latest application to have the decision to throw out her &#8216;SARS Rogue Unit&#8217; report reversed. The court said there were no reasonable grounds to review the High Court&#8217;s decision to set aside the report. The report implicated Public Enterprises minister Pravin Gordhan, but was found to be baseless, derived from discredited reports, and &#8220;failed at every level&#8221;. The appeal was dismissed with costs, adding to the already hefty bill Mkwhebane has racked up through her many failed court bids &#8211; two already in 2022. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-02-01-costs-mount-as-busisiwe-mkhwebane-delt-legal-blow-by-sca-in-attempt-to-revive-irrational-sars-rogue-unit-report\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa&#8217;s rand firmed on Tuesday, holding on to gains made in the previous session after the dollar fell as investors consolidated recent gains in the greenback. The rand is recovering after last week&#8217;s losses as bets for US interest rate hikes increased on a hawkish shift by the Federal Reserve at a time when the South African Reserve Bank&#8217;s forward guidance was seen less hawkish than market expectations. The dollar&#8217;s weakening came as Fed policymakers allayed investor fears of a very rapid tightening of monetary policy, while an imminent US interest rate hike in March is already priced in. On Wednesday, the rand was trading at R15.27\/$, R17.21\/\u20ac and R20.65\/\u00a3. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-africas-rand-firms-as-dollar-struggles-stocks-up\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>AA warns that petrol prices could keep rising; Zondo slams government for its dismal track record with appointing executives for state companies; Gigaba, Brown and Zuma fingered in part 2 of the state capture report; and Mkwhebane loses yet another court bid &#8211; with legal bills piling up.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":266029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-554862","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\/554862","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=554862"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554862\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":554876,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/554862\/revisions\/554876"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/266029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=554862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=554862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=554862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}