{"id":703679,"date":"2023-07-13T07:55:00","date_gmt":"2023-07-13T05:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=703679"},"modified":"2023-07-13T08:06:44","modified_gmt":"2023-07-13T06:06:44","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1567","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/703679\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1567\/","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>No repeat of July 2021<\/strong>: Police Minister Bheki Cele says there is no link between the recent arson attacks on trucks and the two-year anniversary of the 2021 July unrest. In the past few days, over 20 trucks have been set alight in KwaZulu-Natal, Mpumalanga and Limpopo, but Cele said that the current evidence points to an industry war. The minister added that further law enforcement is being deployed on major routes, including the South African National Defence Force in KwaZulu-Natal. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sabcnews.com\/sabcnews\/no-link-between-truck-aatacks-and-2021-july-unrest-police\/\" target=\"_blank\">SABC<\/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>New driving laws on the road<\/strong>: The Department of Transport has welcomed the Constitutional Court overturning the High Court&#8217;s ruling which said that the Aarto Act unconstitutional and invalid. The department said that it will start rolling out the system nationally, with the Road Traffic Infringement Agency mobilising the necessary capacity. It added that it will finalise its recommendations for the appointments to the Appeals Tribunal and the proclamation of the new laws. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/ewn.co.za\/2023\/07\/12\/transport-dept-welcomes-aarto-ruling-says-it-s-ready-to-implement-it\" target=\"_blank\">EWN<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/703565\/strict-new-driving-rules-and-demerit-system-for-south-africa-declared-lawful\/\" target=\"_blank\">BusinessTech<\/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>New Public Protector<\/strong>: South Africa is set to get a new Public Protector this year, with Parliament&#8217;s Ad Hoc committee that is responsible for finding the new Public Protector releasing the names of 38 nominees who have the necessary qualifications. The nominees&#8217; CVs are available on the national legislature&#8217;s website for public comment for seven days, and the shortlisting process will start on 26 July. Suspended Public Protector Advocate Busisiwe Mkwebane will leave the role on 15 October 2023. Today, the Concourt will rule if the High Court&#8217;s order declaring her suspension invalid aligns with the Constitution. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news\/search-new-public-protector-has-began\" target=\"_blank\">eNCA<\/a>, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.sabcnews.com\/sabcnews\/concourt-to-rule-on-mkhwebanes-suspension-matter\/\" target=\"_blank\">SABC<\/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>More Mashatile&#8217;s controversy<\/strong>: Gauteng MEC for Human Settlements and Infrastructure Lebogang Maile has ordered an investigation into a company that is run by Deputy President Paul Mashatile&#8217;s son-in-law. Between 2023 and 2017, Nonkwelo Investments received four loans from the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF), which totalled at least R30 million &#8211; this overlapped with Mashatile&#8217;s work as the MEC for Human Settlements. Although recent revelations are unlikely to damage Mashatile&#8217;s position in the ANC, Political analyst Daniel Silke said that reports about Mashatile&#8217;s luxurious lifesyle could hurt the ANC in next year&#8217;s elections, as many South Africans are living in hardship. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/politics\/political-parties\/paul-mashatiles-r37m-home-may-not-cost-him-politically-but-his-son-in-law-now-faces-investigation-20230713\" 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 saw strong gains against the dollar on Wednesday after inflation in the US dropped in June, with investors believing that the US Fed may be nearing the end of its tightening cycle. US inflation in June totalled 3% &#8211; the lowest reading since 2021 &#8211; and investors believe that there will be one more hike before a pause. On Thursday (13 July), the rand was trading at R18.12\/$, R20.19\/\u20ac, and R23.57\/\u00a3. Brent crude is trading at $75.88 a barrel. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/currencies\/south-african-rand-gains-against-weaker-dollar-before-us-cpi-2023-07-12\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No repeat of July unrest; controversial driving laws getting rolled out; hunt on for new public protector; Mashatile&#8217;s lifestyle questioned. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":95,"featured_media":647561,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[26],"class_list":["post-703679","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\/703679","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=703679"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":703715,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703679\/revisions\/703715"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/647561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}