{"id":680765,"date":"2023-04-17T08:09:16","date_gmt":"2023-04-17T06:09:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=680765"},"modified":"2023-04-17T08:15:31","modified_gmt":"2023-04-17T06:15:31","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1507","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/680765\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1507\/","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>No stage 8 soon<\/strong>: Despite the tripping of Koeberg Unit 2 over the weekend prompting fears that stage 8 load shedding could be looming, stage 8 load shedding is only likely if there is a &#8216;perfect storm&#8217;, which would include a cold front lasting for several days and Eskom having multiple breakdowns. Energy analyst Clyde Mallinson added that Koeberg is no longer as essential for grid stability as it was in the past. Although stage 8 is not imminent, stage 6 load shedding is expected to remain for much of the winter months. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/economy\/despite-koeberg-crisis-stage-8-not-imminent-but-a-perfect-storm-could-bring-it-on-20230417\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Experts divided on Ramokgopa<\/strong>: Energy experts remain divided on the performance of recently appointed electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. Energy analyst Ted Blom said that he was unsurprised that Ramokgopa was struggling at his job as he lacked the necessary experience. However, analyst Chris Yelland came to Ramokgopa&#8217;s defence, saying that load shedding will take years to solve. Yellend added that South Africans need to be patient, despite the over-promises made by politicians. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/04\/17\/energy-experts-divided-on-electricity-minister-ramokgopa-s-performance-to-date\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Durban tariff hike:<\/strong> Residents in the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality are facing the largest tariff increases across all major metros if the city&#8217;s draft budget for 2023\/24 is accepted. The city said that it wants to increase electricity tariffs by 22%, water by 15%, sewerage by 12% and property rates by 9%. Mayor Mxolisi Kaunda said the increases are not his fault, citing Eskom, Umgeni Water Board, and salary increases. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/some-metros-want-eye-watering-rates-tariff-hikes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SA&#8217;s weak leadership problem<\/strong>: Former finance minister and Old Mutual Chair Trevor Manuel says South Africa&#8217;s lack of strong leadership and political will have exacerbated widespread corruption, rampant crime and South Africa&#8217;s descent into lawlessness. Manuel said that it is an appropriate time to ask for clarity from government regarding plans to deal with the governance crisis facing South Africa. He added that a swift response is needed to meet the nation&#8217;s infrastructure needs, with respect to new builds and infrastructure. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2023-04-17-trevor-manuel-issues-sharp-rebuke-to-sas-weak-leadership\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The South African rand weakened on Friday as the dollar jumped higher after hawkish comments by a Fed official on the U.S. central bank&#8217;s future interest rate trajectory. Despite being on a rate-hiking cycle, a Fed official said that the U.S. central bank has made <span id=\"x1\">little headway<\/span> in returning to its inflation target of 2% and would need to move interest rates higher still. On Monday (17 April), the rand was trading at R18.06\/$, R19.86\/\u20ac, and R22.44\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $86.28 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-weakens-as-dollar-gains-on-hawkish-fed-governor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Stage 8 still unlikely; analysts weigh Ramokgopa&#8217;s performance; eThekwini proposes massive tariff increase; Manuel criticises SA leadership. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":643257,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-680765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680765","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=680765"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":680819,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680765\/revisions\/680819"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/643257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}