{"id":701425,"date":"2023-07-05T08:05:59","date_gmt":"2023-07-05T06:05:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=701425"},"modified":"2023-07-05T08:05:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-05T06:05:59","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1561","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/finance\/701425\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1561\/","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>Not the private sector&#8217;s job:<\/strong> Although Stanlib CEO&nbsp;Derrick Msibi says South Africa&#8217;s largest asset managers should play a role in boosting the nation&#8217;s economy, he believes that the private sector cannot be expected to solve all of the nation&#8217;s issues using people&#8217;s pensions. He said that it needs to be clear when it is appropriate for asset managers to invest in socioeconomic projects and when it is the government&#8217;s, as it is not the responsibility of the former to do so. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/not-all-of-sas-social-problems-can-be-solved-by-using-peoples-pensions-says-stanlib-ceo-20230705\" 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>Grid concerns<\/strong>: Mineral Resources and Energy Minister Gwede Mantashe&nbsp;says Eskom&#8217;s grid is exhausted and cannot add more renewable energy projects. The minister said that Eskom can only add 1,000 MW of new renewable energy to the grid in the proposed locations, with the projects proposing 3,000 MW or three stages of load shedding. Despite the constraints, the minister said that Eskom was best placed to address the issue and address the grid capacity constraints in the future. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/07\/04\/mantashe-eskom-s-exhausted-grid-in-some-areas-set-for-renewable-energy-project\" 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>No sweet taste:<\/strong> RCL Foods says it has seen a drop in profits after a special levy was introduced by the South African Sugar Association, with the company&#8217;s sugar business paying over R200 million for the levy. The group said that the business rescue proceedings at Tongaat Hullett Sugar and the Gledhow Sugar Company have meant that the remaining industry players have had to bear additional costs via the levy. It warned that earnings per share could drop by 30% when it releases its financial results in September. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/business\/rcl-foods-blames-levies-powers-cuts-drop-profits\" target=\"_blank\">eNCA<\/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>Blue light brigade suspension<\/strong>: Four members of Deputy President Paul Mashatile VIP protection service have been suspended after a video showed them assaulting other motorists circulated online. Two other police officers involved in the incident are also facing suspension. Mashatile said that he was not in the vehicle at the time and condemned the incident. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/politics\/parliament\/mashatiles-vip-protectors-slapped-with-suspensions-after-assault-on-civilians-20230705-2\" 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>Markets<\/strong>: The rand firmed against the dollar on Tuesday amid China&#8217;s decision to impose export measures on some metals used by the semiconductor industry. China said that it will impose restrictions on gallium and germanium&nbsp;products, which are used in computer chips. DailyFX&#8217;s Warren Venketas said that the rand is set to benefit from the decision as the minerals are produced in South Africa. On Wednesday (5 July), the rand was trading at R18.68\/$, R20.31\/\u20ac, and R23.74\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $75.76 a barrel [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nasdaq.com\/articles\/south-african-rand-firms-after-chinas-chip-material-export-curbs\" target=\"_blank\">Nasdaq<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Not the private sector&#8217;s responsibility to fix South Africa; Eskom&#8217;s grid is exhausted; problems for the sugar industry; Mashatile&#8217;s protection suspended. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":659685,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11121],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-701425","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701425","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=701425"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701425\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":701451,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701425\/revisions\/701451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/659685"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701425"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701425"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701425"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}