{"id":625344,"date":"2022-09-14T08:02:58","date_gmt":"2022-09-14T06:02:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=625344"},"modified":"2022-09-14T08:03:40","modified_gmt":"2022-09-14T06:03:40","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1364","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/625344\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1364\/","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>Non-payment:<\/strong> As Eskom is once again forced to implement constant load shedding, municipalities have racked up R50 billion in debt owed to the power utility by the non-payment of electricity bills. As of 31 July 2022, 96 of 278 municipalities in South Africa were indebted to Eskom, with the Free State carrying the biggest burden of R16.7 billion. Maluti-a-Phofung municipality in the Free State owes Eskom R6.7 billion alone. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-09-13-culture-of-non-payment-leaves-eskom-with-a-r50bn-debt-headache\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Greylisting:<\/strong> Justice minister Ronald Lamola has tried to assuage investors that the South African government is taking the threat of being greylisted seriously. Speaking to investors in Cape Town, the minister said that the greylisting threatens to entrench inequalities in South Africa and make it more difficult for companies to do business and invest in the country. South Africa faces greylisting because it has not done enough to stop money laundering and illicit financial flows, nor take action against those caught. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/business\/lamola-government-dealing-grey-list-threat\">ENCA<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Two-pot system:<\/strong> The retirement industry says it will not be ready to adopt new rules around a two-pot retirement system by its targetted start date of March 2023. The system would allow members to access a portion of their retirement funds early. However, the Association for Savings and Investment SA said that it would take at least 18 months from the gazetting of the final regulations to get the system in place. Public hearings into the system are currently underway. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2022-09-13-starting-two-pot-system-in-march-2023-not-feasible-says-asisa\/\">BusinessLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>MP threatened:<\/strong> Embattled public protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane&#8217;s controversial lawyer, Dali Mpofu, may soon face investigations and sanctions all his own after threatening MPs in parliaments. Mpofu told an ANC: &#8220;You&#8217;re going to regret this. Your day will come.&#8221; This has spurred ire among MPs who now want him investigated. Legal experts have said Mpofu violated Section 8 of the Powers, Privileges and Immunities of Parliament and Provincial Legislatures Act. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/politics\/parliament\/mpofu-violated-parly-codes-in-your-time-will-come-threat-now-mps-want-him-investigated-20220914\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa&#8217;s rand fell on Tuesday as the dollar was buoyed by stronger-than-expected US inflation data, suggesting that the Federal Reserve may have to stay aggressive in raising interest rates. US consumer prices unexpectedly rose in August, and underlying inflation picked up amid rising costs for rents and healthcare. The Fed will meet next week to deliver the interest rate decision, with traders betting on a rate hike of 75 basis points. On Wednesday, the rand was at R17.41\/$, R17.38\/\u20ac and R20.03\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $93 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-falls-after-firm-u.s.-consumer-prices\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As load shedding intensifies, municipal debt to Eskom climbs to R50 billion; government tries to calm investor fears over greylisting; retirement industry says it&#8217;s not ready for the two pot system; and Mkhwebane&#8217;s lawyer threatened MPs in parliament and many now face his own legal troubles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":600580,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-625344","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\/625344","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=625344"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625344\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":625362,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/625344\/revisions\/625362"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/600580"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=625344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=625344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=625344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}