{"id":739345,"date":"2023-12-20T07:48:59","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T05:48:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=739345"},"modified":"2023-12-20T07:48:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-20T05:48:59","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1676","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/739345\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1676\/","title":{"rendered":"5 important things happening in South Africa today"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Here\u2019s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Businesses are dissatisfied:<\/strong> According to the Bureau for Economic Research (BER), the 2023 average business confidence level is now almost 10 points below that of 2022 and consistently below the long-term average. BER economist Katrien Smuts said the outcome implies that almost six out of 10 respondents are dissatisfied with prevailing business conditions. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/economy\/2023-12-19-business-confidence-now-almost-10-points-below-the-2022-average\/\" target=\"_blank\">Business Day<\/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>Electricity tariff hikes are a must:<\/strong>&nbsp;Former Eskom CEO Andre de Ruyter says that the latest Eskom bailout is not sufficient, and the power utility will be back at the National Treasury\u2019s door begging for more money if electricity tariffs don&#8217;t match the cost of electricity generation. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/739287\/eskom-needs-more-electricity-price-hikes-to-survive-de-ruyter\/\" 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>Two-pot system concerns:<\/strong>&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s largest retirement fund administrator, Alexforbes, says it has been working on implementation plans based on draft legislation. However, progress is contingent on the final legislation, which is still unavailable. This limitation hinders final changes and updates to our communication efforts, systems, and processes, and many are concerned that if things aren&#8217;t prepared properly, it could cause unintended consequences. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/fin24\/companies\/alexforbes-says-legislation-still-needed-to-roll-out-two-pot-retirement-system-20231220\" 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>Water supply worries:<\/strong> Minister of Water and Sanitation, Senzo Mchunu, has pleaded with residents of Gauteng to reduce their water consumption as the water supply remains vulnerable to disruptions, with the supply having no reserves. Mchunu said the system is vulnerable to disruptions caused by load-shedding, breakdowns, or theft. No reserve supply capacity is available, making the water supply susceptible to such breakdowns. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyinvestor.com\/south-africa\/40371\/severe-water-shortages-loom-as-gauteng-has-no-reserve-supply-capacity\/\" target=\"_blank\">Daily Investor<\/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 South African rand strengthened on Tuesday against a weaker U.S. dollar, as global market sentiment was buoyed by expectations of interest rate cuts in 2024, and a local leading business cycle indicator came in line with expectations. On Wednesday (20 December), the rand was trading at R18.31 to the dollar, R23.30 to the pound and R20.09 to the euro. Oil is trading at $79.11 a barrel. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/currencies\/south-african-rand-weakens-ahead-economic-indicator-2023-12-19\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Business confidence for 2023 is bleak; Electricity tariff hikes are a must for Eskom; legislation delays a concern for the new two-pot system; warning over Gauteng water supply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":657347,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[853],"class_list":["post-739345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-government","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739345","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=739345"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739345\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":739355,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739345\/revisions\/739355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/657347"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}