{"id":639083,"date":"2022-10-31T07:55:18","date_gmt":"2022-10-31T05:55:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=639083"},"modified":"2022-10-31T08:05:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T06:05:23","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1397","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/639083\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1397\/","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>Diesel concerns: <\/strong>Peter Morgan, director of the Liquid Fuels Wholesalers Association, said the diesel price trajectory is concerning, as is the increase in petrol prices. Mining and agriculture companies are feeling the weight of the rising prices, as fuel accounts for 13% of their input costs &#8211; with trucking being hit even harder. Analysts expect the increases to cause inflationary pressures on household necessities \u2013 especially for those that can&#8217;t afford it. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/economy\/as-a-diesel-crisis-spreads-in-the-west-could-sa-be-next-20221031\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>The Scorpions are back: <\/strong>President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the National Prosecuting Authority\u2019s Investigating Directorate (ID) would become a permanent body. With this one act, Ramaphosa has restored the NPA\u2019s ability to, without fear or favour, investigate and prosecute high-profile individuals across society. This could be the beginning of the return of the Scorpions, the crime-fighting unit of advocates, detectives, and forensic auditors. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sunday-times-daily\/opinion-and-analysis\/2022-10-30-justice-malala--sting-and-rejoice-fellow-south-africans-for-the-scorpions-are-back\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">TimesLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Tshwane metro ordered to refund billions: <\/strong>The financial woes of the Tshwane metro have deepened after residents earlier this month won their fight to be refunded unlawfully charged property rates dating back to 2011. Lex Middelberg, founder and representative of the Republican Conference of Tshwane, estimates the number of affected ratepayers at 8,000 and the amount at stake close to R2 billion. The Pretoria High Court ordered the city to refund the ratepayers within 90 days.\u00a0 [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/court-orders-tshwane-metro-to-refund-thousands-of-ratepayers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Load shedding won&#8217;t disrupt matric exams: <\/strong>Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says load shedding won\u2019t disrupt this year\u2019s exams. She said that the department had created a timetable that accommodates the load shedding schedule, with some exam papers being written before or after the set times. The Basic Education Department added that it is confident that it has now offered enough support to prepare students for matric exams, which includes its plans to mitigate load shedding. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2022\/10\/30\/load-shedding-won-t-disrupt-matric-exams-says-motshekga\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: South Africa&#8217;s rand weakened on Friday as the dollar regained some lost ground ahead of the U.S. Federal Reserve&#8217;s policy decision on interest rates next week. Overall, the Top-40 and broader all-share indices decreased by 1.29% and 1.1%, respectively. The rand is trading at R18.20\/$, R18.12\/\u20ac and R21.12\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $95 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-dips-ahead-of-fed-decision-next-week\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Diesel price trajectory is concerning, as industries incur higher input costs which could exacerbate inflationary pressures; Ramaphosa announced that the National Prosecuting Authority\u2019s Investigating Directorate (ID) would become a permanent body; Tshwane metro ordered to refund ratepayers billions; and Basic Education Minister Angie Motshekga says load shedding won\u2019t disrupt this year\u2019s exams.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":639093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-639083","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\/639083","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=639083"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":639105,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/639083\/revisions\/639105"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/639093"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=639083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=639083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=639083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}