{"id":835116,"date":"2025-08-15T07:35:23","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T05:35:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=835116"},"modified":"2025-08-15T07:35:23","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T05:35:23","slug":"bad-news-for-the-western-cape-and-more-state-owned-companies-collapse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/835116\/bad-news-for-the-western-cape-and-more-state-owned-companies-collapse\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news for the Western Cape, and more state-owned companies collapse"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand weakened<\/a> on Thursday following a larger-than-expected increase in US producer prices, which reduced the likelihood of a significant rate cut by the Federal Reserve in September.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In July, US producer price index (PPI) inflation rose by 3.3%, exceeding the 2.5% consensus forecast by Reuters.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While traders of Fed funds futures are nearly certain that the US central bank will implement a 25-basis-point rate cut next month, there has been growing speculation about the possibility of a more substantial cut. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a result, the rand traded at 17.61 against the dollar, about 0.6% weaker than Wednesday’s closing value, thus erasing gains of over 1% made in the previous two days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With no significant local data releases scheduled for the remainder of the week, the rand is expected to respond primarily to global influences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, 15 August, the rand was trading at R17.58 to the dollar, R23.81 to the pound and R20.50 to the euro. Oil was trading slightly lower at $65.90 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here are five other important things happening in and affecting South Africa today:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bad news for the Western Cape:<\/strong> Due to recent diplomatic failures and a 30% tariff on South African exports to the US starting August 7, Western Cape Minister Ivan Meyer has lowered the province’s economic growth target from 5% to 3% per year by 2035. [Engineering News<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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State-owned bus companies collapse:<\/strong>\u00a0State-owned bus companies North West Transport Investment, North West Star, and Atteridgeville Bus Service have collapsed further since entering business rescue in 2022 due to mismanagement and potential financial irregularities. Their debt has now increased from R355 million to R1 billion, and 1,500 employees have gone months without pay. [News24<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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ANC could lose its hold:<\/strong>\u00a0A study from the Mapungubwe Institute for Strategic Reflection indicates that the ANC may lose its outright majority in most provinces, leading to complex power-sharing arrangements. In the 2029 general elections, the ANC is expected to retain control in only two provinces: Limpopo and the Eastern Cape. [Newsday<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Investors haven’t given up on SA:<\/strong>\u00a0According to Roy Havemann, senior economist at the Bureau for Economic Research, investors are cautiously optimistic about South Africa’s reform narrative. He noted that offshore investors are showing renewed interest as structural reforms begin to take shape. However, they remain sceptical, wanting to see tangible results, particularly in job creation, before fully committing. [Business Day<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New springbok sponsor:<\/strong> Vodacom has signed a partnership agreement with SA Rugby, naming the network operator the first and exclusive official telecommunications partner to all national Springbok teams. [MyBroadband<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in South Africa on Friday, 15 August.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":789627,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-835116","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\/835116","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=835116"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":835119,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835116\/revisions\/835119"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/789627"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}