{"id":688217,"date":"2023-05-16T08:18:16","date_gmt":"2023-05-16T06:18:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=688217"},"modified":"2023-05-16T08:18:16","modified_gmt":"2023-05-16T06:18:16","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1526","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/688217\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1526\/","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 ties:<\/strong> Despite a diplomatic falling out with the U.S. over potentially arming Russia, Lt-Gen Lawrence Mbatha, the chief of the S.A. Army, is leading a delegation in Russia, which is set to visit defence industry sites. A political and security analyst, Nel Marais, said that the visit implied South Africa wanted to strengthen its military cooperation with Russia. Defence analyst Helmoed-R\u00f6mer Heitman noted that the visit would not improve the quality of S.A. soldiers and showed that South Africa was aligned with Russia. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2023-05-15-sa-military-delegation-in-moscow-for-co-operation-talks\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<p class=\"article__title\"><strong>Insurance crisis<\/strong>: Short-term insurers warn that South Africa could soon become uninsurable due to the frequency of crises in the country. Insurance industry members said that risks, such as weather-related claims, load shedding and social instability, are becoming too large for private insurers. Insurance cover for certain events may be withdrawn by insurance companies, such as the withdrawal of pandemic cover in 2020 and the recent withdrawal of grid failure. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/sa-risks-becoming-uninsurable-as-short-term-insurers-battle-mounting-claims-due-to-crises-20230516\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>SAA feeling confident<\/strong>: Newly appointed South African Airways (SAA) board chair Derek Hannekoem says he is not concerned over a possible stall in Takatso Consortium&#8217;s purchase of 51% of SAA. The Competition Commission previously noted that the deal could only go through if Global Aviation &#8211; the operator of Lift airline &#8211; divests from Takatso. Hannekoem said that the agreement would allow SAA to grow but added that the company is not as fragile as it once was, showing a modest profit in the last financial year. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/moneyweb-podcasts\/moneyweb-midday\/all-indications-saa-will-show-a-modest-profit-derek-hanekom\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Moneyweb<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>EFF on grid collapse<\/strong>: Despite several energy experts and President Cyril Ramaphosa saying South Africa is unlikely to suffer a total grid collapse, Eff leader Julis Malema says South Africa could face a nationwide blackout within the next few weeks. Malema said that the government is not taking the issue seriously, which he believes will be worse than the Covid-19 pandemic. He added that insurrection could occur if the lights go out. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/05\/15\/we-are-heading-to-darkness-eff-s-malema-warns-of-power-grid-collapse\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The rand firmed on Monday, recovering from an all-time low following investors&#8217; concerns about possible sanctions following U.S. allegations that South Africa supplied arms to Russia. Despite the significant drop, the rand should recover in the second half of the month, as an equally sharp pullback is underway, with South Africa unlikely to face U.S. repercussions. On Tuesday (16 May), the rand was trading at R19.04\/$, R20.72\/\u20ac, and R23.85\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $75.48 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/buzz-comment-south-african-rands-recovery-could-see-the-month-out\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> SA Army chief visits Russia, South Africa is uninsurable, SAA not as fragile as it once was, Malema warns of grid collapse. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":669659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-688217","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688217","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\/95"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=688217"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688217\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":688243,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/688217\/revisions\/688243"}],"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=688217"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=688217"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=688217"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}