{"id":638649,"date":"2022-10-28T07:55:17","date_gmt":"2022-10-28T05:55:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=638649"},"modified":"2022-10-28T07:55:17","modified_gmt":"2022-10-28T05:55:17","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1396","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/638649\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1396\/","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>Makro&#8217;s indefinite strike: <\/strong>The South African Commercial, Catering and Allied Workers Union (Saccawu) has vowed to pursue an indefinite nationwide strike if retailer Makro fails to improve a current wage increase. Massmart is offering a 4.5% wage increase, while Saccawu &#8211; representing about 85% of staff at Makro &#8211; wants a 12% wage increase and a hike in sales commissions from 10% to 20%. The union said it began a limited-duration strike at 22 stores on Wednesday (26 October) after wage negotiations deadlocked. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/saccawu-vows-indefinite-strike-if-makro-doesnt-budge-on-wage-demands-20221027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>What Treasury wants from Eskom: <\/strong>Treasury head of asset and liability management Duncan Pieterse says that Eskom would be required to sell off its noncore assets and make operational improvements if the government is going to assume part of its R400 billion debt. The Treasury has not decided how much of Eskom&#8217;s debt will be taken over, but it could be between a third and two-thirds. Pieterse said the Treasury had not yet finalised the conditions to be attached to the Eskom debt takeover. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2022-10-27-what-treasury-wants-from-eskom-in-exchange-for-debt-relief\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">BusinessLIVE<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>No threat to national security: <\/strong>Deputy minister in the presidency for State Security Zizi Kodwa says that there is no immediate threat to national security and that there is no need to panic. The comments come after the US embassy in South Africa issued a terrorism alert on Wednesday. Kodwa chided the US for not following protocol in issuing the alert and said that it could lead to a diplomatic incident between the two countries. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2022\/10\/28\/there-are-no-threats-to-national-security-kodwa\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>South Africa receives R9 billion: <\/strong>South Africa has secured $500 million (R9 billion) to aid its just transition from coal to renewables. The Climate Investment Funds \u2013 a multilateral climate fund affiliated with the World Bank \u2013 had approved the funding. According to a statement from the CIF, &#8220;The decision intends to equip the country with concessional, risk-bearing capital from CIF&#8217;s Accelerating Coal Transition (CIF ACT) investment programme to build momentum toward ambitious climate, energy, and development goals&#8221;. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/climate_future\/news\/sa-gets-r9bn-from-world-bank-affiliated-fund-to-shift-from-coal-to-renewables-20221027\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: While signs of continued fiscal restraint and encouraging debt-to-GDP forecasts in the Medium Term Budget Policy Statement were welcome, investors are well aware of the risks to the government&#8217;s optimistic outlook, and South Africa&#8217;s rand weakened against a stronger dollar on Thursday (27 October). The rand is trading at R18\/$, R17.96\/\u20ac and R20.80\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $96 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-weakens-against-stronger-dollar\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Saccawu has vowed to pursue an indefinite nationwide strike if Makro fails to improve a current wage increase; Treasury outlines potential conditions around Eskom&#8217;s debt takeover; The office of the president says there is no threat to nation security; and South Africa has secured $500 million (R9 billion) to aid its just transition from coal to renewables. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":538398,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-638649","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\/638649","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=638649"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638649\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":638667,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/638649\/revisions\/638667"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/538398"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=638649"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=638649"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=638649"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}