{"id":744623,"date":"2024-01-23T07:53:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-23T05:53:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=744623"},"modified":"2024-01-23T07:53:14","modified_gmt":"2024-01-23T05:53:14","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1694","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/744623\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1694\/","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<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Dodgy diesel at stations:\u00a0<\/strong>An investigation by the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy has found that 70 filling stations across the country have been selling dodgy\u00a0diesel to customers, which shows that some profiteers are cutting corners as petroleum prices continue to skyrocket. The watered-down diesel is allegedly mixed\u00a0with illuminating paraffin. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/politics\/govt-probe-finds-fake-diesel-at-70-garages-even-after-mantashes-warning-20240122\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/news24\/politics\/govt-probe-finds-fake-diesel-at-70-garages-even-after-mantashes-warning-20240122\" 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>Government \u2018malpractice\u2019 probe:\u00a0<\/strong>Two organisations, awarded almost R114 million in grants by the Gauteng Department of Social Development over the past two years, are under investigation as part of a probe into the department\u2019s funding of non-profit organisations. The investigation has already led to several department officials being placed on \u201cprecautionary suspension\u201d. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/multimillion-rand-grants-to-beauty-and-agricultural-training-npos-under-investigation\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.groundup.org.za\/article\/multimillion-rand-grants-to-beauty-and-agricultural-training-npos-under-investigation\/\" target=\"_blank\">GroundUp<\/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>Cash-strapped Johannesburg to readjust its budget downwards\u00a0<\/strong>Cash crunch could force the City of Johannesburg (South Africa&#8217;s largest and richest metro, which has a budget of R80.9 billion for the 2023\/24 financial year) to \u2018rebase\u2019 its 2023\/24 budget by R6 billion amid cash flow challenges dogging the country\u2019s economic hub. The opposition are warning that this will directly affect service delivery. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/politics\/2024-01-22-cash-strapped-city-of-joburg-to-readjust-its-budget-downwards\/\" target=\"_blank\">BusinessDay<\/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>Leoka resigns from MTN, Amplats boards:&nbsp;<\/strong>Embattled economist Thabi Leoka has resigned as a non-executive director on the MTN and Anglo American Platinum boards. This is amidst allegations that she had lied about obtaining a PhD from the London School of Economics (LSE). [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/dailyinvestor.com\/business\/42272\/thabi-leoka-resigns-from-amplats-board-amidst-fake-phd-allegations\/\" 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>\u00a0The rand fell sharply last week and has yet to claw back lost ground, leaving it on the back foot. This comes as the U.S. currency firmed after investors dropped their expectations of a March interest rate cut by the Fed. On Tuesday (23 January), the rand was trading at R19.16 to the dollar, R24.45 to the pound, and R20.88 to the euro. Oil is trading at $79.93 a barrel. [<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-backfoot-ahead-rate-decision-data-2024-01-22\/\" data-type=\"URL\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-backfoot-ahead-rate-decision-data-2024-01-22\/\" target=\"_blank\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Read<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/government\/744583\/major-win-for-south-africas-skills-crisis\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Major win for South Africa\u2019s skills crisis<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Watered-down diesel; R114 million government grant under probe; Joburg&#8217;s money troubles; Leoka resigns from boards.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":644671,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9874],"tags":[18993,26],"class_list":["post-744623","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-energy","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-headline"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744623","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\/101"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=744623"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744623\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":744641,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/744623\/revisions\/744641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/644671"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=744623"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=744623"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=744623"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}