{"id":636139,"date":"2022-10-20T08:02:55","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T06:02:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=636139"},"modified":"2022-10-20T08:02:55","modified_gmt":"2022-10-20T06:02:55","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1390","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/636139\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1390\/","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>Bad news for car buyers: <\/strong>JSE-listed vehicle retailer Combined Motor Holdings (CMH) expects new vehicle prices to increase by up to 10% within the next four months. \u201cWe will probably get increases of 2% to 3% almost every month, and this knock-on effect is directly due to the weak exchange rate against the dollar,\u201d said CMH CEO Jebb McIntosh on Wednesday (19 October). [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/companies-and-deals\/new-cars-to-cost-up-to-10-more-within-months-cmh\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Telkom plummets: <\/strong>Telkom had its worst day on the JSE since its listing in 2003, losing almost a quarter of its value on Wednesday (19 October) as MTN withdrew its bid to take it over. Rain is now the only contender for a tie-up with the fixed-line operator. Buying Telkom could increase a buyer\u2019s subscriber base by 10%. Analysts believe MTN\u2019s exit was a bargaining tactic, expecting them to be back soon. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/companies\/telecoms-and-technology\/2022-10-19-rain-the-only-suitor-left-as-jilted-telkom-sheds-22-of-its-value\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BusinessLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>High cost for SA&#8217;s ideal power system: <\/strong>South Africa&#8217;s ideal power system \u2013 which is cost-effective and has the lowest greenhouse gas emissions \u2013 consists of solar PV, wind and battery storage. But the capital requirements for such a system range between R2.3 trillion and R3.1 trillion, according to a report by the National Business Initiative (NBI). However, this is a tall order considering the sheer cost &#8211; and the fact that energy minister Gwede Mantashe says South Africa still relies on coal. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/climate_future\/energy\/sas-ideal-power-system-could-cost-as-much-as-r31trn-20221020\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><b>The strike is over: <\/b>The Transnet strike is officially over after smaller unions that were holding out for a bigger wage increase have called off their boycott. Minority union Satawu, which vowed to continue striking after majority union Untu struck a deal with the SOE for a 6% increase, has told its members to stand down. The strike started on October 6 following a dispute over pay increases. All workers are now expected back at work on Thursday, with the weeks-long process of clearing backlogs. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/2022-10-20-transnet-strike-ends-as-smaller-union-calls-off-boycott\/\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets:<\/strong>\u00a0 The South African rand was flat on Wednesday (19 October) ahead of the release of domestic inflation and retail sales figures later in the day. The Top-40 and the broader all-share indexes dropped by 1% and 0.53%, respectively. The rand is currently trading at R18.30\/$, R17.90\/\u20ac and R20.55\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $93.15 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-flat-ahead-of-inflation-retail-sales-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>New vehicle prices to increase within the next four months; Telkom had its worst day on the JSE since its listing in 2003 after MTN withdrew its bid to take it over; South Africa&#8217;s staggering costs for its ideal power system; and the Transnet strike is officially over after smaller unions that were holding out for a bigger wage increase have called off their boycott.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":488479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-636139","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\/636139","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=636139"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":636189,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/636139\/revisions\/636189"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/488479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=636139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=636139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=636139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}