{"id":749900,"date":"2024-02-08T07:59:22","date_gmt":"2024-02-08T05:59:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=749900"},"modified":"2024-02-08T07:59:30","modified_gmt":"2024-02-08T05:59:30","slug":"5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1706","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/trending\/749900\/5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today-1706\/","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>Final SONA of sixth administration today:<\/strong>\u00a0President Cyril Ramaphosa will deliver the sixth administration&#8217;s final State of the Nation Address at Cape Town City Hall this evening. This is the first of two SONAs that will be held this year, with the second taking place after the general elections. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.parliament.gov.za\/press-releases\/state-readiness-host-2024-state-nation-address#:~:text=The%20theme%20for%20the%202024,President's%20reply%20to%20the%20debate.\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.parliament.gov.za\/press-releases\/state-readiness-host-2024-state-nation-address#:~:text=The%20theme%20for%20the%202024,President's%20reply%20to%20the%20debate.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Parliament<\/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>Overhaul of Compensation Fund and UIF a &#8216;massive&#8217; undertaking:\u00a0<\/strong>Minister of Employment and Labour, Thulas Nxesi, said that they would require an increase in expenditure and in the department\u2019s budget as a result of the &#8220;massive\u201d process of unbundling the Compensation Fund and Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF), as well as their modernisation and restructuring processes. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2024-02-07-nxesi-says-overhaul-of-uif-and-compensation-fund-requires-massive-funding\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2024-02-07-nxesi-says-overhaul-of-uif-and-compensation-fund-requires-massive-funding\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">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>Sars commissioner to stay on for a little while longer:\u00a0<\/strong>Commissioner of the South African Revenue Service (Sars), Edward Kieswetter, will remain in his position for a little while longer. His tenure was supposed to end on 30 April; however, the Presidency said in a statement that it had been extended to enable an orderly transition in the organisation. It is unclear how long he will remain at the helm. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/mymoney\/moneyweb-tax\/sars-commissioner-stays-on-for-a-little-while-longer\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.moneyweb.co.za\/mymoney\/moneyweb-tax\/sars-commissioner-stays-on-for-a-little-while-longer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Moneyweb<\/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>Intelligence agency ready for &#8216;foreign election meddling&#8217; threats:<\/strong>\u00a0Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya has said that South Africa&#8217;s intelligence agency is equipped, ready and on alert to deal with threats of possible foreign meddling in the country\u2019s upcoming elections. This comes after President Cyril Ramaphosa warned of a &#8220;regime change agenda&#8221; from foreign powers following the country&#8217;s ICJ case against Israel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2024-02-07-spy-agency-equipped-to-deal-with-threats-to-the-state-says-presidency\/\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2024-02-07-spy-agency-equipped-to-deal-with-threats-to-the-state-says-presidency\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">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>Markets:<\/strong>\u00a0South Africa&#8217;s rand weakened on Wednesday as local investors turned their attention to President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s State of the Nation Address. On Thursday (8 February), the rand was trading at R18.89 to the dollar, R23.87 to the pound, and R20.37 to the euro. Oil is trading at $79.55 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-flat-early-trade-2024-02-07\/#:~:text=JOHANNESBURG%2C%20Feb%207%20(Reuters),weaker%20than%20its%20previous%20close.\" data-type=\"link\" data-id=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-flat-early-trade-2024-02-07\/#:~:text=JOHANNESBURG%2C%20Feb%207%20(Reuters),weaker%20than%20its%20previous%20close.\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SONA 2024; UIF and Compensation Fund overhaul a &#8216;massive&#8217; undertaking; Sars commissioner&#8217;s tenure slightly extended; intelligence agency on alert for &#8216;foreign election meddling&#8217; threats.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":101,"featured_media":642805,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18993],"class_list":["post-749900","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749900","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=749900"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749900\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":749922,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/749900\/revisions\/749922"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/642805"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=749900"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=749900"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=749900"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}