{"id":617045,"date":"2022-08-16T08:03:08","date_gmt":"2022-08-16T06:03:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=617045"},"modified":"2022-08-16T08:03:08","modified_gmt":"2022-08-16T06:03:08","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1343","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/617045\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1343\/","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<ul>\n<li><strong>SAA woes:<\/strong> South African Airways&#8217; woes continue, even as the company tries to reinvent itself with private partners. The Air Services Licensing Council has given the airline 90 days to address breaches of aviation law or risk losing its air service licences. The council asked, among other things, for more information regarding the status of the Takatso Consortium&#8217;s acquisition of a 51% stake in the airline. The consortium said it is still going through regulatory processes and cannot address the council&#8217;s demands. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/moneyweb-podcasts\/special-report\/saa-given-90-days-to-address-breaches-of-aviation-law-how-does-this-affect-the-takatso-deal\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>IP Loss:<\/strong> State-owned defence group Denel reportedly lost out on R4 billion in sales for contracts after selling off a critical piece of intellectual property. Denel obtained the IP as part of the 2015 BAE Land Systems South Africa acquisition, but it was sold off for just over R200 million. The group reportedly sold off the IP because it did not have enough technical skills to develop it further, saying that IP loses value quickly as technology in the field develops rapidly. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/investigations\/ailing-denel-lost-out-on-r4bn-when-its-trade-secret-was-sold-off-20220816\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bad optics:<\/strong> Defence minister Thandi Modise&#8217;s participation in a Russian conference on international security has drawn criticism from local and international commentators, given that Russia is currently the aggressor in a months-long invasion of Ukraine. Academics have questioned why South Africa would want to fashion its military after Russia, while European military experts have said that her attendance could be construed as showing solidarity with Russia and its war in Ukraine. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-08-15-thandi-modise-at-russian-security-conference-shows-solidarity-with-occupiers-and-aggressors\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Zuma appeal:<\/strong> The Supreme Court of Appeal has reserved judgment in former President Jacob Zuma&#8217;s appeal to overturn a decision that found his release on parole unlawful. Zuma was released on parole by former prison boss Arthur Fraser after serving less than two months of a 15-month sentence for contempt. Zuma&#8217;s lawyers argue that he is terminally ill, and no prison in South Africa has the necessary facilities for his care. The state has accused Fraser of overstepping in granting Zuma&#8217;s parole and wants him back in jail. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2022\/08\/16\/supreme-court-of-appeal-reserves-judgment-in-zuma-medical-parole-appeal-matter\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The South African rand stumbled on Monday but remained firm after some surprising economic data from China. The People&#8217;s Bank of China surprised markets with an interest rate cut, following a slurry of poor economic data out of China. Risk-based Australian &amp; New Zealand dollars faltered on the back of this data and the rate cut. On Tuesday, the rand was trading at R16.43\/$, R16.70\/\u20ac and R19.80\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $ a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Citadel_Global\">Citadel<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SAA woes continue; Denel lost out on R4 billion; questions are being raised over defence minister Thandi Modise&#8217;s attendance at a Russian security conference; and the Supreme Court reserves judgement in Zuma&#8217;s parole appeal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":425016,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-617045","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\/617045","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=617045"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617045\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":617069,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/617045\/revisions\/617069"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/425016"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=617045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=617045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=617045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}