{"id":836174,"date":"2025-08-28T08:06:14","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T06:06:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836174"},"modified":"2025-08-28T08:06:14","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T06:06:14","slug":"big-legal-blow-to-spur-and-andre-de-ruyter-under-fire-once-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/836174\/big-legal-blow-to-spur-and-andre-de-ruyter-under-fire-once-again\/","title":{"rendered":"Big legal blow to Spur, and Andre de Ruyter under fire once again"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The South African rand <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-weakens-dollar-firms-2025-08-27\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">declined<\/a> on Wednesday as the dollar experienced a tentative rebound, raising concerns about the independence of the U.S. Federal Reserve.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rand was trading at 17.72 against the dollar, approximately 0.4% weaker than the previous day&#8217;s close.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, the dollar was about 0.2% stronger against a basket of currencies, which diminished the appeal of the risk-sensitive rand.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The currency faced pressure throughout most of Tuesday\u2019s session while markets awaited insights from local economic data.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index was down by 0.4%. Additionally, South Africa&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond weakened, with the yield rising by one basis point to 9.60%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Thursday, 28 August, the rand was trading at R17.67 to the dollar, R23.87 to the pound and R20.57 to the euro. Oil was trading slightly lower at $67.55 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>Legal blow to Spur:<\/strong>\u00a0Restaurant group Spur announced that an arbitrator has partly ruled against it in a legal dispute with GPS Food Group RSA, which has been ongoing for six years. GPS claims an &#8220;oral agreement&#8221; was made to develop a rib-processing facility for product supply. Spur plans to appeal the ruling within 30 days. Total claims against Spur, including alleged losses, could reach R262.8 million. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.news24.com\/business\/companies\/blow-for-spur-in-6-year-multimillion-rand-legal-spat-over-ribs-agreement-20250827-0931\" 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>Andre de Ruyter under fire:<\/strong> Eskom board chair Mteto Nyati criticised Andr\u00e9 de Ruyter&#8217;s performance as CEO in a Twitter\/X post, questioning why current CEO Dan Marokane isn&#8217;t receiving more praise. This follows comments from electricity minister Kgosientsho Ramokgopa, who believes the utility erred in appointing De Ruyter in December 2019. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/608533-andre-de-ruyter-under-fire.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>GNU disappointment:<\/strong>\u00a0The Government of National Unity (GNU) has reportedly achieved only 2% of its goals since forming last year, according to Dr Corn\u00e9 Mulder of Freedom Front Plus (FF+). He shared this after attending a gathering where National Assembly Speaker Thoko Didiza discussed the coalition&#8217;s progress. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/south-africa\/3117\/gnu-has-achieved-less-than-2-of-its-goals-mulder\/\" 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>Sapref\u00a0refinery deal for R1 criticised:\u00a0<\/strong>The Sapref refinery was sold to the Central Energy Fund for R1, freeing Shell and BP from past liabilities. Located in low-income neighbourhoods south of Durban, the refinery has harmed local communities for decades, and the sale was done without any consultation or reparations to the communities. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymaverick.co.za\/article\/2025-08-27-sapref-for-r1-clean-break-for-corporations-death-sentence-for-communities\/?dm_source=dm_block_grid&amp;dm_medium=card_link&amp;dm_campaign=main\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Daily Maverick<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Steel companies gear up to fight government:<\/strong>\u00a0Companies across South Africa\u2019s steel value chain are gearing up to submit responses to a preliminary determination by the International Trade Commission of South Africa (Itac) that proposes the implementation of sweeping tariffs on imported steel products. South Africa&#8217;s International Trade Commission (Itac) has proposed increased tariffs on imported steel products, changes that could add R1.54 billion to the annual tariff bill. [<strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.engineeringnews.co.za\/article\/firms-across-steel-value-chain-gear-up-to-reply-to-itacs-sweeping-tariff-proposal-2025-08-27\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Engineering News<\/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, Thursday, 28 August 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":716816,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-836174","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\/836174","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=836174"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836174\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":836182,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836174\/revisions\/836182"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/716816"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836174"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836174"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836174"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}