{"id":694859,"date":"2023-06-09T08:08:03","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T06:08:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=694859"},"modified":"2023-06-09T08:08:03","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T06:08:03","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1544","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/694859\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1544\/","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>Ramaphosa to Russia<\/strong>: President Cyril Ramaphosa will travel to Russia in an attempt to persuade Vladimir Putin to attend the BRICS summit in August virtually instead of in person. The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Putin, leaving South Africa in a difficult position, as, per international law, the Russian leader should be arrested if he steps foot in the country. According to Business Day, Ramaphosa will also visit Ukraine to reaffirm South Africa&#8217;s commitment to its non-aligned status. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2023-06-08-ramaphosa-to-visit-putin-in-moscow-to-dissuade-him-from-coming-to-sa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>E-toll switch off<\/strong>: The removal of the E-toll system in Gauteng has hit another stumbling block &#8211; half a year after it was supposed to be scrapped. The government said that it would initially absorb the R47 billion debt, with Treasury covering 70% of the bill and the Gauteng government taking over the remaining 30%. However, a memorandum of agreement is yet to be finalised as the Gauteng provincial government scrambles to raise nearly R13 billion. [<a href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/06\/08\/scrapping-of-e-tolls-in-gauteng-hangs-in-the-balance-as-bill-agreement-stalls\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Bidvest acquisitions:<\/strong> Bidvest has grown its merger &amp; acquisitions (M&amp;A) budget by R5 billion to R15.2 billion (\u20ac750 million) as it goes on the hunt for acquisitions locally and internationally. CEO Mpumi Madisa said that Bidvest does not want to make a carbon copy of itself abroad but rather focus on strategic acquisitions. Internationally, the group will look at investment opportunities in facilities management, hygiene services and plumbing and related services. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/companies\/2023-06-08-bidvest-builds-15bn-war-chest-for-acquisitions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Zimbabwe extension<\/strong>: Zimbabwean Exemption Permit (ZEP) has been extended by another six months to 31 December. The extension will impact 180,000 Zimbabweans currently living in the country, as they will be forced to leave the country unless they can find alternative legal permissions. Home Affairs Minister Aaron Motsoaledi said that the department has seen an influx of more than 1,0000 visa and waiver applications daily, adding that more officials will be deployed to process the applications. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/southafrica\/news\/180-000-zimbabweans-can-now-stay-in-sa-for-6-months-longer-it-doesnt-help-them-all-that-much-20230609\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<hr \/>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The South African rand jumped on Thursday, clinging to gains made since the start of the week on a weakening dollar and encouraging domestic data. The rand was boosted by the easing of power cuts, the better-than-expected current account deficit of GDP, and the 3.4% year-on-year growth in manufacturing output in April. On Friday (9 June), the rand was trading at R18.88\/$, R20.36\/\u20ac, and R23.70\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $75.31 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-jumps-on-encouraging-domestic-data\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ramaphosa to visit Russia, E-tolls hit barrier, Bidvest grows warchest to R15 billion, Zimbabwean Exemption Permit extended till year end. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":645245,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-694859","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\/694859","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=694859"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694859\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":694883,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/694859\/revisions\/694883"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/645245"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=694859"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=694859"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=694859"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}