{"id":849636,"date":"2026-02-03T07:58:40","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T05:58:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=849636"},"modified":"2026-02-03T08:03:27","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T06:03:27","slug":"iconic-south-african-town-collapsing-and-new-tax-coming-for-households","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/849636\/iconic-south-african-town-collapsing-and-new-tax-coming-for-households\/","title":{"rendered":"Iconic South African town collapsing, and new tax coming for households"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand strengthened on Monday, recovering some of the ground lost from a sharp decline in the previous session. It was trading at 16.0275 against the dollar, which is about a 0.8% increase from Friday’s close. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The currency has been volatile, similar to other emerging market and commodity-linked currencies, having dropped approximately 2.6% on Friday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts noted, “The rand appears to be trading in tandem with precious metal prices at the moment.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts indicated that the rand will likely continue to follow the price trends of the country’s key exports, such as gold and platinum, for direction. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A survey released on Monday showed that South African manufacturing sentiment improved in January, attributed to a rise in business activity, although weak exports impacted the overall purchasing managers’ index. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate report, figures from South Africa’s auto association Naamsa revealed that new vehicle sales increased by 7.5% year-on-year in January.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was softer than the 14.6% growth projected by economists and the 19.2% increase reported in December. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index declined by 0.8%, extending losses from Friday when it fell by more than 4%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Tuesday, February 3, the rand is trading at R15.99 to the dollar, R21.89 to the pound, and R18.89 to the euro. Gold is currently valued at $4,812.13 per ounce, while oil prices have risen to $66.03 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening in South Africa today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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South African town collapsing: <\/strong>The iconic mining town in Gauteng, which is renowned for the nearby Cradle of Humankind World Heritage Site, is in trouble. Economic decay, deteriorating buildings, rising homelessness and drug issues, dirty streets, and a municipality disconnected from residents\u2019 struggles characterise Krugersdorp\u2019s Central Business District (CBD). Once vibrant due to precious metals, this town is rapidly losing its appeal. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New tax to replace TV licence<\/strong>: BMI TechKnowledge is finalising a new funding model for the South African Broadcasting Corporation (SABC), and a key point of discussion is whether to replace the TV licence with a tech-neutral household levy. Minister of Communications and Digital Technologies, Solly Malatsi, has stated that substituting the SABC TV licence with a household levy is a “terrible idea.” This discussion arises from the public broadcaster\u2019s serious financial challenges, primarily stemming from its difficulties in efficiently collecting TV licence revenue. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Midrand without water<\/strong>: Jack Sekwaila, the Johannesburg MMC for Environment and Infrastructure, stated that the city is collaborating closely with two major water utilities to restore water to taps that have gone dry due to outages affecting residents. Many residents in Midrand and certain areas of Johannesburg have been experiencing water shortages for several days. [EWN<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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JSE warns of bond suspensions:<\/strong>\u00a0Three of South Africa’s major metropolitan areas have pointed fingers at the auditor-general (AG) after the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) announced on Monday that it would suspend their bonds if they do not submit audited financial statements by the end of February. The cities of Johannesburg, Ekurhuleni, and Cape Town have not provided their audited statements within the seven-month timeframe mandated by the listing rules of the local exchange. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Balwin Properties cuts ties with padel executive<\/strong>: Balwin Properties has ended all contractual agreements with Sebastian Brokmann, a well-known figure in South Africa\u2019s growing padel industry, commonly referred to as \u201cMr Padel SA.\u201d This decision follows the release of WhatsApp screenshots that featured racist, anti-Muslim, antisemitic, and sexist remarks. [Mail&Guardian<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in South Africa on Tuesday, 3 February 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":849640,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-849636","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\/849636","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=849636"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":849641,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/849636\/revisions\/849641"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/849640"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=849636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=849636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=849636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}