{"id":625013,"date":"2022-09-13T08:07:57","date_gmt":"2022-09-13T06:07:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=625013"},"modified":"2022-09-13T08:07:57","modified_gmt":"2022-09-13T06:07:57","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1363","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/625013\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1363\/","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>Unpaid bills:<\/strong> The City of Tshwane has put 10 estates in its crosshairs as it tries to recoup unpaid bills and debt. The city says the 10 estates have residents that have either left their bills unpaid or have been tampering with meters. The city is owed over R1 billion in unpaid bills and recently chased after R16 million owed from just one estate. It is offering residents who know they are in arrears or connected to the grid illegally to apply for amnesty before 30 September 2022. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/city-of-tshwane-identifies-10-residential-estates-for-its-revenue-collection-blitz\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Virtual migration:<\/strong> While South Africa contends with a surge in skilled individuals leaving the country, it also faces challenges with virtual emigration, where more skilled workers turn to remote work for foreign companies. Boston Consulting Group (BCG) said the US, UK and Australia are among the top countries South Africans are looking to for remote employment. A recent survey found that 73% of South Africans are willing to work for an international remote employer compared to the global average of 57%. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sunday-times-daily\/news\/2022-09-12-benoni-beijing-or-bermuda-why-skilled-south-africans-are-emigrating-virtually\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bus strike:<\/strong> The Putco bus strike continues, with workers rejecting a wage offer of a 6% increase. Striking workers want over 100 of their colleagues fired for embarking on an illegal strike to be given their jobs back and for back-pay to be doled out. The company promised to restart operations this week, but it has been unable to due to the strike. Putco said it is monitoring the situation. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news\/putco-drivers-turn-down-wage-offer\">ENCA<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jagersfontein:<\/strong> Residents of the area around the Jagersfontein diamond mine have been devastated following a dam burst on Sunday, which left one person dead, and many houses, livestock, and infrastructure washed away. Authorities confirmed that concerns around the mine had been raised in the past &#8211; and had they been heeded, the disaster could have been averted. A tailings dam wall at the mine collapsed on Sunday, causing a mudslide and flooding nearby residential areas, displacing 200 people. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-09-13-owners-of-free-state-diamond-mine-were-warned-to-cease-operations-two-years-ago\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa&#8217;s rand strengthened on Monday, as the dollar weakened ahead of key US inflation data due on Tuesday that might give clues on how aggressively the Federal Reserve may hike interest rates at its 21 September policy meeting. Investors will be looking at US inflation data, which will be key for determining the policy direction the Fed will take in the near term. On Tuesday, the rand was trading at R17.11\/$, R17.35\/\u20ac and R20.00\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $93 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/s.african-rand-firms-as-dollar-weakens-before-u.s.-inflation-data\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tshwane targets 10 estates over unpaid bills; South Africans are keen on working for international companies remotely; Putco bus strike continues as workers reject wage offer; and authorities say the Jagersfontein disaster could have been avoided.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":625029,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-625013","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\/625013","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=625013"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625031,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625013\/revisions\/625031"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/625029"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}