![\"\"](\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/10\/Cape-Town-South-Africa-February-26-2019_-the-countrys-government-owned-power-utility-Eskom-is-on-the-verge-of-collapse-due-to-massive-corruption-and-graft-image-in-landscape-format.jpg\")
<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nAmerica’s enemies visiting South Africa: <\/strong>Chinese and Iranian warships are docked off the coast of South Africa for planned military exercises that officials said were also meant to involve Russia. The presence of the countries, which the United States has repeatedly characterised as its enemies, risks putting South Africa further at odds with the US, amid already tense relations between the two. Local officials have called the exercise relationship-building among the BRICS nations. Analysts, however, differ, calling the move a provocation. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Billions more for Eskom:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s energy regulator says it adjusted its R54-billion accounting error related to Eskom\u2019s electricity prices to R76 billion \u201cbecause of what it actually costs Eskom\u201d to supply power. In its public consultation notice, the energy regulator revealed that the amount Eskom should recoup through electricity price increases had increased to R76 billion after a recalculation. The escalated costs in building new power stations resulted in Eskom accumulating massive debt, which, according to Nersa, it recoups through annual electricity price hikes. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n WeBuyCars in hot water: <\/strong>WeBuyCars has agreed to pay an administrative penalty and provide redress to affected consumers as part of a settlement agreement with the National Consumer Commission. The agreement comes after the NCC investigated complaints by customers over the past three years, which alleged that WeBuyCars refused to take responsibility for issues their cars developed within six months of purchase. Following the investigation, the NCC found that WeBuyCars\u2019 terms and conditions contravened the Consumer Protection Act. The company is set to pay a R2.5 million fine on top of the R3.4 million it paid to the 31 customers who took their cases to the NCC. [Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Devastating fires: <\/strong>The Kouga Municipality in the Eastern Cape is in the midst of evacuations as the region has been hit by devastating wildfires. The fires, which erupted on Thursday, have engulfed farms and homes, forcing residents to flee. The municipality has urged residents to evacuate affected areas. Three major blazes have erupted: behind Humansdorp, between St Francis Bay and Paradise Beach, in the Kabeljous River area. St Francis Bay Town and Jeffreys Bay were not at risk. Power utility Eskom has also alerted to structural damage leading to power outages in affected areas. Once it is declared safe, it will work to restore power. [Daily Maverick<\/a>].<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hijacking empire falls: <\/strong>The City of Johannesburg is investigating a network of 17 hijacked homes in the upmarket Bryanston suburb, following the raid on a mansion on Thursday. The raid removed 150 illegal occupants from the property, with the arrest of the alleged kingpin. The property owners have reportedly been trying to clear the hijackers out for five years. The city said it now plans to ‘hit’ 17 more homes in the coming week. Properties in the area are targeted due to high walls and inward protection, giving low visibility to the happenings on the property and making it difficult to enter and intervene. [News24<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Here are five important things happening in South Africa on Friday, 9 January 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":847444,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[1164,6245,12861],"class_list":["post-847443","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-eskom","tag-sandf","tag-webuycars"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847443","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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=847443"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847443\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":847445,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/847443\/revisions\/847445"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847444"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=847443"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=847443"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=847443"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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