{"id":739439,"date":"2023-12-21T07:45:39","date_gmt":"2023-12-21T05:45:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=739439"},"modified":"2023-12-21T07:45:39","modified_gmt":"2023-12-21T05:45:39","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1677","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/739439\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1677\/","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>Eskom set to disappoint:<\/strong> As part of Eskom\u2019s longer-term recovery plan, the group has set a target of hitting an Energy Availability Factor (EAF) of 65% by March 2024, and reaching 70% by March 2025. However, data shows that the power company is struggling to get further than an EAF of 55% \u2013 which is even lower than the 60% EAF target Eskom set for March 2023. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/739391\/eskom-only-has-3-months-and-its-not-looking-good\/\" 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>SA faces a nursing crisis:<\/strong>&nbsp;Private hospital group Netcare has once again warned that with the healthcare system heavily reliant on a nursing workforce above the age of 50 and not bringing in new nurses, this is becoming a societal challenge that needs to be addressed urgently, or else the country faces crisis level consequences. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2023-12-20-netcare-warns-sa-that-nursing-shortage-is-heading-towards-a-dangerous-cliff\/\" 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>SA has a drinking problem:<\/strong> Drunken driving arrests have increased by 312% in the Western Cape this December. This trend is also being noted in other provinces, with many drivers being five to nine times over the legal limit. Arrive Alive advocate Johan Jonck has expressed national concern about increasing alcohol consumption during the festive season. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2023-12-20-sa-authorities-ramp-up-road-safety-operations-after-a-spike-in-drunken-driving-arrests\/\" target=\"_blank\">Daily Maverick<\/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>MTN approaches Starlink<\/strong>: MTN has announced that it is in talks with various Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite broadband companies regarding partnerships to provide coverage in under-served areas. This includes Starlink, Lynk Global, AST SpaceMobile, and Eutelsat OneWeb. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wireless\/520239-mtn-in-talks-with-starlink.html\" target=\"_blank\">MyBroadband<\/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>&nbsp;&nbsp;South Africa&#8217;s rand advanced against the U.S. dollar in thin trade on Wednesday, with analysts saying the currency was drifting on global market factors in the absence of domestic economic data releases. On Wednesday (20 December), the rand was trading at R18.39 to the dollar, R23.12 to the pound and R20.02 to the euro. Oil is trading at $79.31 a barrel. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/markets\/currencies\/south-african-rand-tracks-dollar-with-no-domestic-data-due-2023-12-20\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Eskom is set to miss an important target; Netcare warns of looming nursing crisis; drunken driving arrests have already surged; and MTN is in talks with Starlink.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":731437,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[853],"class_list":["post-739439","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\/739439","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=739439"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739439\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":739451,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/739439\/revisions\/739451"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/731437"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=739439"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=739439"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=739439"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}