{"id":834509,"date":"2025-08-11T07:45:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-11T05:45:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=834509"},"modified":"2025-08-11T07:45:08","modified_gmt":"2025-08-11T05:45:08","slug":"r1-2-billion-in-pension-savings-down-the-drain-and-new-nuclear-power-station-one-step-closer-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/834509\/r1-2-billion-in-pension-savings-down-the-drain-and-new-nuclear-power-station-one-step-closer-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"R1.2 billion in pension savings down the drain, and new nuclear power station one step closer for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The rand remained <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-flat-traders-await-tariff-updates-after-ramaphosa-trump-call-2025-08-08\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">stable<\/a> on Friday as investors awaited more information about President Cyril Ramaphosa&#8217;s recent telephone conversation with his US counterpart, President Donald Trump, regarding bilateral trade. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rand was trading at 17.72 against the dollar, showing little change from Thursday&#8217;s closing value. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Currently, US imports from South Africa face a 30% tariff, the highest rate among Sub-Saharan African countries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, Ramaphosa&#8217;s office announced on Thursday that he had spoken with Trump, and that the trade negotiating teams of both countries would engage in more detailed discussions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Monday, 11 August, the rand was trading at R17.72 to the dollar, R23.82 to the pound and R20.67 to the euro. Oil was trading slightly lower at $66.38 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here are five other important things 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<p><strong>Government Pensions Agency&#8217;s R1.2 billion disaster:<\/strong>\u00a0The Government Pensions Administration Agency (GPAA) has paid millions to Shula Developers and Dikeamo Architects for work on offices it doesn&#8217;t have access to, raising the Brooklyn Bridge office lease cost to over R1.2 billion. Attacq, the property owner, confirmed the building is not for sale and has valid leases. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/investigations\/ghost-contract-no-building-but-govt-pensions-still-paid-r270m-for-lavish-refurb-20250810-0856\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">News24<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>New nuclear power station:<\/strong> Eskom has been granted an Environmental Authorisation to construct and operate a 4000MW nuclear power station in Duynefontein, a few kilometres from the Koeberg plant in the Western Cape. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/south-africa\/1481\/south-africa-one-step-closer-to-a-new-4000mw-nuclear-plant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Newsday<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>DStv under siege:<\/strong> DStv is facing a resurgence of piracy, and MultiChoice is investing millions to combat copyright infringement globally. SuperSport, a key asset, provides access to major sporting events. However, MultiChoice chairman Elias Masilela warns that illegal streaming is causing revenue losses of 25% to 35% annually in the industry. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/broadcasting\/606058-dstv-under-siege-3.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MyBroadband<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Change to unemployment data:<\/strong>\u00a0Stats SA plans to roll out an updated quarterly labour force survey (QLFS) questionnaire in the third quarter of 2025 to capture \u201cmore nuanced labour market trends\u201d and reflect evolving employment relationships, aligning the key survey with the \u201clatest international standards\u201d. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/economy\/2025-08-11-stats-sa-fine-tunes-informal-jobs-measurement\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Business Day<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>US tariffs to have minimal impact:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s central bank believes the US tariffs will only have a modest impact on the country\u2019s economic growth while leaving its inflation levels broadly unchanged. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnbcafrica.com\/2025\/south-africas-central-bank-sees-only-modest-impact-from-us-tariffs\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CNBC Africa<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are five important things happening in South Africa on Monday, 11 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":826181,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-834509","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834509","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=834509"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834509\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":834511,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/834509\/revisions\/834511"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/826181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=834509"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=834509"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=834509"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}