{"id":836065,"date":"2025-08-27T07:54:51","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T05:54:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836065"},"modified":"2025-08-27T07:54:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T05:54:51","slug":"us-firm-coming-after-one-of-south-africas-soes-for-r125-million-and-threat-to-checkers-and-pick-n-pay","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/836065\/us-firm-coming-after-one-of-south-africas-soes-for-r125-million-and-threat-to-checkers-and-pick-n-pay\/","title":{"rendered":"US firm coming after one of South Africa&#8217;s SOEs for R125 million, and threat to Checkers and Pick n Pay"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The rand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-weakens-after-leading-indicator-data-2025-08-26\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">weakened<\/a> on Tuesday following the release of a local leading business cycle indicator. It traded at 17.66 against the dollar, which is approximately 0.3% lower than Monday&#8217;s closing rate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to central bank data released on Tuesday, South Africa&#8217;s composite leading business cycle indicator increased by 0.4% month-on-month in June. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This indicator gathers data on various factors, including vehicle sales, business confidence, and money supply, helping investors assess the outlook for Africa&#8217;s most industrialised economy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Wesnesday, 27 August, the rand was trading at R17.64 to the dollar, R23.72 to the pound and R20.49 to the euro. Oil was trading slightly lower at $68.48 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>US firm coming after Denel:<\/strong> Denel is facing a lawsuit in Florida for millions of dollars from US firm Draken International, a private air-combat training group. They claim Denel failed to deliver nine of the 12 Cheetah fighter jets ordered in 2017. Draken is seeking at least R125 million in damages. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/business\/companies\/us-firm-sues-denel-for-r125m-over-9-fighter-jets-20250826-1053\" 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>Threat to Checkers and Pick&#8217;n Pay:<\/strong>\u00a0Amazon\u2019s rapid expansion of fresh food deliveries in the coming years could be an early warning shot to traditional grocery retailers such as Checkers and Pick&#8217;n Pay in South Africa that they must enhance their e-commerce offerings. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/business\/608281-warning-to-checkers-and-pick-n-pay.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>Tourism considers legal action:<\/strong>\u00a0According to former member Lawson Naidoo, the dissolved board of SA Tourism is exploring legal options. Tourism Minister Patricia de Lille dissolved the board last week, claiming it unlawfully held a special meeting. The board clashed with De Lille over disciplinary proceedings against its now-suspended CEO, Nombulelo Guliwe. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.businesslive.co.za\/bd\/national\/2025-08-26-board-of-sa-tourism-considers-legal-action-after-being-dissolved-by-de-lille\/\" 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>Issues with Eskom&#8217;s private grid procurement requirements:\u00a0<\/strong>Concerns are growing over the criteria for bidders in South Africa&#8217;s first independent transmission project tender, potentially sidelining the domestic industry despite a 49% equity requirement. The government has launched a two-stage procurement process, with RFQ documentation available for a non-refundable fee of R150,000 and a submission deadline set for 23 September. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringnews.co.za\/article\/warning-that-qualifying-criteria-for-private-grid-procurement-could-sideline-domestic-industry-2025-08-26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Engineering News<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>South Africa&#8217;s dirty water problem:<\/strong>\u00a0South Africa&#8217;s sewage crisis is worsened by official reports that overlook millions of litres of leaking wastewater. Contaminants like antibiotics, heavy metals, and plastics are entering freshwater sources.\u00a0[<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.timeslive.co.za\/sunday-times-daily\/opinion-and-analysis\/2025-08-27-sas-sewage-crisis-official-reports-dont-include-millions-of-litres-of-leaking-wastewater\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">TimesLive<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are five important things happening in South Africa today, Wednesday, 27 August 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":836069,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-836065","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\/836065","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=836065"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836065\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836070,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836065\/revisions\/836070"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836069"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836065"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836065"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836065"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}