{"id":836995,"date":"2025-09-08T07:40:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-08T05:40:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=836995"},"modified":"2025-09-08T07:40:46","modified_gmt":"2025-09-08T05:40:46","slug":"good-news-for-homeowners-with-rooftop-solar-and-pain-for-renters-in-cape-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/836995\/good-news-for-homeowners-with-rooftop-solar-and-pain-for-renters-in-cape-town\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for homeowners with rooftop solar, and pain for renters in Cape Town"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand, along with South African stocks and government bonds, strengthened<\/a> on Friday following better-than-expected foreign reserves data.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was further supported by a weaker dollar stemming from a disappointing US jobs report. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s net foreign reserves increased to $65.899 billion at the end of August, up from $65.143 billion in July. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists from Nedbank had predicted that the country’s international liquidity position would rise only to $65.2 billion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand was trading at 17.55 against the dollar, which represents a roughly 1.3% increase from its previous close, helping to recover some of its recent losses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand had weakened on Thursday, partly due to a stronger dollar that diminished the appeal of most emerging market currencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, 8 September, the rand was trading at R17.60 to the dollar, R23.75 to the pound and R20.62 to the euro. Oil was trading slightly lower at $66.27 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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Good news for homeowners with solar:\u00a0<\/strong>Eskom has waived the registration requirements for solar systems until the end of March 2026. The following fees will also be waived. However, the utility is considering extending this deadline.\u00a0[News24<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Price pain for renters in Cape Town:<\/strong>\u00a0Since Airbnb entered Cape Town in 2015, the average rent has surged from R6,696 to R11,285, outpacing the national average. PayProp reports that 13.7% of tenants are in debt, highlighting affordability issues. Airbnb listings have nearly doubled, contributing to reduced long-term rental availability and rising prices. [Newsday<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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US tariff hit starting to show:<\/strong> According to Absa Corporate and Investment Bank (Absa CIB), South Africa’s exports to the US fell 18% in the second quarter, prior to the 30% tariff in August, compared to a 3% drop in shipments to other countries. [Business Day<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Transnet starting to turn<\/strong>: Transnet, the South African freight rail and ports company, reported a smaller loss of 1.9 billion rand ($108.18 million) for the last financial year, down from 7.3 billion rand the previous year. The company indicated progress in its turnaround program, although its auditor expressed concerns about ongoing viability. [CNBC Africa<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Vodacom should pay Makate R3.12 million:<\/strong> Vodacom’s decision to offer Nkosana Makate R47 million for his Please Call Me idea sparked a decade-long legal battle, far exceeding the typical R1 million (R3.12 million adjusted for inflation) compensation for similar employee contributions. [MyBroadband<\/a><\/strong>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in South Africa today, Monday, 8 September 2025.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":836996,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-836995","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\/836995","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=836995"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836995\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837002,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/836995\/revisions\/837002"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/836996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=836995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=836995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=836995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}