{"id":697331,"date":"2023-06-20T07:30:00","date_gmt":"2023-06-20T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=697331"},"modified":"2023-06-20T08:12:01","modified_gmt":"2023-06-20T06:12:01","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1550","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/business\/697331\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1550\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here&#8217;s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>South Africa uninvestable<\/strong>: Seelan Gobalsamy, CEO of chemicals and explosives group Omnia, says it is very difficult to invest in South Africa due to load shedding, logistical constraints and socio-political issues, such as crime and service delivery protests. Speaking at the release of the group&#8217;s full-year results to end March, Omnia&#8217;s CEO said it is better to invest offshore due to the difficulty in investing locally. However, he said closer cooperation between government and business could help solve these issues. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/very-very-difficult-to-find-reasons-to-invest-in-sa-says-cash-flush-omnia-20230620\" target=\"_blank\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Load shedding bites<\/strong>: The Tiger Brands Foundation, which feeds over 65,000 children across 91 schools in the country, is struggling to keep its breakfast program operational due to high food inflation and persistent load shedding. Operations manager Karl Muller&nbsp;said that the increase in these financial pressures has led to lower profitability for businesses that supply food to these schools via corporate social investment initiatives or other long-term financial arrangements, with many unable to donate as much as they could previously. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mg.co.za\/news\/2023-06-20-load-shedding-rising-prices-hit-eating-scheme-for-pupils\/\">Mail and Guardian<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Western Cape gas worry<\/strong>: With the Western Cape currently facing severe winter storms, Vita Gas has decided to stop imports of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)&nbsp;into the province, saying that its position is untenable. LPG is mainly used by residential and commercial customers for heating and is in higher demand in winter due to the cold. Despite claiming to be blindsided by the move, Sunrise Energy, which runs the import facility, says an alternative supply has been acquired and will land this week. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/scramble-to-secure-wcape-lpg-supply-as-corporate-fight-becomes-untenable-20230620\" target=\"_blank\">News24<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Joburg mayor under investigation<\/strong>: The Financial Sector Conduct Authority says it is investigating complaints against a business previously run by Johannesburg Mayor Kabelo Gwamanda. It is alleged that Gwamanda failed to register his business with the FCSA. Opposition parties are accusing the Mayor of running a funeral Ponzi scheme, with ActionSA calling for a motion of no-confidence. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/06\/19\/fsca-confirms-investigation-into-gwamanda-s-alleged-ponzi-scheme\" target=\"_blank\">EWN<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Markets<\/strong>: The rand was little changed on Monday as a reduction in the intensity of rolling power cuts boosted the currency. DailyFX&#8217;s Warren Venketas said that should load shedding remain diminished; the rand may recover more, as businesses can run more efficiently. On Tuesday (20 January), the rand was trading at R18.22\/$, R19.88\/\u20ac, and R23.28\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $75.79 a barrel. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-little-changed-as-power-cuts-ease\" target=\"_blank\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Omnia CEO says South Africa is difficult to invest in, load shedding hurts school feeding programme, Western Cape gas chaos, Joburg Mayor under investigation. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":694185,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9872],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-697331","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\/697331","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=697331"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":697377,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697331\/revisions\/697377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/694185"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}