{"id":684909,"date":"2023-05-04T07:57:26","date_gmt":"2023-05-04T05:57:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=684909"},"modified":"2023-05-04T07:57:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-04T05:57:26","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1518","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/684909\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1518\/","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>Russian friends:<\/strong> South Africa&#8217;s friendship with Russia is coming under closer scrutiny after it had been revealed that a sanctioned Russian military aircraft quietly landed at the Waterkloof Air Force Base last week. The aircraft in question has been sanctioned over its involvement in transporting armaments and components on behalf of the Russian armed forces. The government said the aircraft was cleared to land and was delivering &#8220;diplomatic mail&#8221; to the Russian Embassy. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2023-05-04-russian-plane-owned-by-firm-under-sanctions-in-stealth-landing-at-waterkloof\/\">BusinessLive<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Municipality crackdown:<\/strong> National Treasury has outlined new debt relief measures for 165 of the 257 municipalities that qualify. However, the relief on offer comes with strict conditions, which include dealing with residents who refuse to pay for services like electricity. Municipalities owe Eskom over R56 billion in debt. National Treasury wants municipalities to cut off non-payers, failing which, they could lose their Nersa licences. Treasury also wants smart meters to be installed to curb non-payment. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/news\/south-africa\/national-treasury-tackles-creeping-culture-of-municipal-non-payment\/\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Musical chairs:<\/strong> The City of Joburg&#8217;s attempts to elect a new mayor have again been thwarted by political infighting, horse-trading and the sheer inability of South Africa&#8217;s political parties to put residents and stable governance first. The mayoral position in the country&#8217;s economic capital remains vacant as the ANC mulls its policies on coalitions, leaving the EFF and its partners hanging. The DA, meanwhile, refuses to work with its coalition partners who have climbed back into bed with the minority party which previously betrayed them. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2023-05-03-city-of-joburgs-attempt-to-elect-mayor-stalls-again-after-anc-caucus-throws-spanner-in-the-works\/\">Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Jooste trial:<\/strong> Former Steinhoff CEO Markus Jooste is facing serious charges in Germany over the company&#8217;s massive accounting fraud. German prosecutors asserted that the executive was behind the scheme to falsely boost the assets of a subsidiary by R16 billion. Ex-Steinhoff executives Dirk Schreiber and Siegmar Schmidt have been charged with the same five accounting fraud charges that Jooste is facing. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/markus-jooste-instigated-r16bn-swindle-at-steinhoff-subsidiary-say-german-prosecutors-20230504\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The rand strengthened slightly following the US Fed&#8217;s announcement that it would hike rates by a further 25 basis points, taking the US rate to its highest point in 16 years. In its decision, it omitted language that more rates are likely, signalling a much-awaited pause. The latest rate hike is also a precursor for a possible hike locally, with the SARB expected to lift local rates by 25 basis points at the end of the month. On Thursday, the rand was trading at R18.21\/$, R20.19\/\u20ac and R22.92\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $73 a barrel.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Africa is cozying up to Russia; Treasury wants municipalities to deal with defaulters; Politicians fail once again to get their act together in Joburg; and Jooste faces even more fraud charges in Germany.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":669659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872,23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-684909","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684909","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=684909"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684909\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":684923,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/684909\/revisions\/684923"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=684909"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=684909"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=684909"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}