{"id":860576,"date":"2026-05-16T07:21:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=860576"},"modified":"2026-05-16T07:21:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:21:04","slug":"good-news-for-capitec-customers-and-r80-billion-down-the-drain-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/860576\/good-news-for-capitec-customers-and-r80-billion-down-the-drain-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Good news for Capitec customers, and R80 billion down the drain in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

South Africa’s rand weakened in early trading on Friday due to a stronger dollar and rising oil prices, which negatively impacted risk sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global markets were also closely monitoring the final day of the summit between US President Donald Trump and China\u2019s Xi Jinping.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand was trading at 16.6426 against the dollar, which represents a decline of about 1% from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US dollar strengthened against a basket of currencies and was on track for its largest weekly gain in over two months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global oil prices rose by more than 1% after Trump announced that China was interested in purchasing oil from the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Concerns also persisted over ship attacks and seizures in the Strait of Hormuz, despite Iran stating that around 30 vessels had successfully passed through the waterway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like other risk-sensitive currencies, the rand often reacts to global developments. It has been particularly vulnerable to market sentiment since the onset of the US-Israeli conflict with Iran at the end of February.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early trading, South Africa\u2019s benchmark 2035 government bond also showed weakness, with the yield increasing by 1 basis point to 8.765%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Saturday, 16 May, the rand was trading at R16.69 to the dollar, R22.25 to the pound, and R19.41 to the euro. Gold is trading lower at $4,540.49 an ounce, while oil prices were at $109.3 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening in South Africa today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Good news for Capitec customers:<\/strong>\u00a0Home Affairs Minister Leon Schreiber announced that passport and first-time smart ID applications will soon be available at bank branches as part of a digital partnership program. Capitec, which didn’t participate in the original pilot, has already launched the service in 76 branches as of the end of April. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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R80 billion down the drain:<\/strong>\u00a0The Department of Transport (DoT) announced that it is effectively pulling the plug on South Africa\u2019s bus rapid transit (BRT) network, despite investments totalling over R80 billion across the past two decades. [Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Expected petrol price for June:<\/strong>\u00a0South African fuel users are finally in for a bit of a break in June, but the good news is being undercut by the end of the government\u2019s tax relief provided in April and May. Petrol price recoveries are currently between -13 and -19 cents per litre, while diesel prices have shown a much more positive swing, though they still reflect market volatility. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Private sector to step in to help failing water boards:<\/strong> South Africa’s struggling water boards, essential to water security, will have their turnaround plans reviewed by private-sector experts as the government seeks to stabilise them. [Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Motorists could be forced to pay more:<\/strong>\u00a0South African motorists could face paying more to use the country\u2019s roads in the future, with Transport Minister Barbara Creecy warning that widespread tolling may become necessary to maintain them. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Saturday, 16 May 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":859359,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-860576","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\/860576","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=860576"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860576\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":860578,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/860576\/revisions\/860578"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/859359"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=860576"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=860576"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=860576"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}