{"id":633657,"date":"2022-10-13T07:58:56","date_gmt":"2022-10-13T05:58:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=633657"},"modified":"2022-10-13T08:07:29","modified_gmt":"2022-10-13T06:07:29","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1385","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/633657\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1385\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SAPS failures:<\/strong> An annual police report presented to parliament on Wednesday (12 October) highlighted several alarming shortfalls of the South African Police Service. Among the shortfalls, the report outlined that irregular expenditure in the SAPS has increased by 352% since 2021, the Detective Service Programme had an achievement rate of only 51.7%, and out of the 253,428 entries of DNA evidence, only 8.7% have been processed over the 2021\/2022 financial year ending in March 2022. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2022-10-12-irregular-expenditure-in-police-soars-by-350-parliament-hears\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Coal exports missed opportunity:<\/strong> The price of importing coal to Europe\u2019s largest ports has risen the most since May, but the ongoing Transnet strike has meant that coal flows out of South Africa last week were only 600,000 tons &#8211; the lowest in more than a year. This represents a massive missed opportunity for South Africa\u2019s economy, as Europe\u2019s demand for coal increased to 4.1 million tons in the first half of 2022 compared to 500,000 tons a year earlier. The Transnet strike is estimated to cost SA\u2019s economy R6 billion daily. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/economy\/transnet-strike-coal-price-surges-in-europe-as-sa-exports-drop-to-lowest-level-since-2021-20221012\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The private sector must run key infrastructure:<\/strong> Consumer Goods Council of South Africa (CGCSA) co-chairperson Gareth Ackerman has urged the government to allow the private sector to run critical infrastructure such as roads, rail and ports to secure the country\u2019s supply chains. The proposal included the removal of the Mooi River Toll Plaza because whenever there is any form of civil unrest or protest, the N3 is shut down, and goods cannot pass through. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/pick-n-pays-ackerman-wants-govt-to-move-n3-toll-plaza-let-private-sector-run-rail-ports-20221013-2\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tourists to get safety video: <\/strong>T<span lang=\"EN-US\">he tourism department briefed parliament on measures to ensure the safety of holidaymakers on Tuesday (11 October), which included airing a \u201crecorded message on safety for the festive season\u201d at airports across the country, among others. <\/span><span lang=\"EN-US\">The safety of tourists arriving for the festive season came into sharp focus after a German tourist was killed while travelling to the Kruger National Park last week. <\/span>[<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessinsider.co.za\/south-africa-tourism-safety-message-at-airports-following-german-murder-2022-10\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Insider<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s rand strengthened against a weaker dollar on Wednesday (12 October) but remains vulnerable over the near term. The rand is currently trading at R18.33\/$, R17.78\/\u20ac and R20.32\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $92.61 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-firms-against-dollar-in-early-trade-0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An annual police report presented to parliament highlighted several alarming shortfalls of the South African Police Service; South Africa&#8217;s economy misses out as European coal demand increases; CGCSA co-chairperson Gareth Ackerman has urged the government to allow the private sector to run critical infrastructure; and tourists to get a recorded message on safety for the festive season in light of the recent murder of a German tourist. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":386897,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-633657","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633657","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=633657"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633657\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":633687,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633657\/revisions\/633687"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/386897"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633657"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633657"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633657"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}