{"id":862308,"date":"2026-06-03T07:29:58","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:29:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=862308"},"modified":"2026-06-03T07:29:58","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T05:29:58","slug":"steenhuisens-missing-r500-million-investigation-and-another-private-afrikaans-university-coming-to-the-western-cape","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/862308\/steenhuisens-missing-r500-million-investigation-and-another-private-afrikaans-university-coming-to-the-western-cape\/","title":{"rendered":"Steenhuisen\u2019s missing R500 million investigation, and another private Afrikaans university coming to the Western Cape"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand strengthened in early trading on Tuesday, benefiting from higher gold prices as investors awaited clarity regarding the status of US-Iran peace talks amid conflicting reports. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand traded at 16.2150 against the dollar, about 0.6% stronger than its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold and platinum prices, which are significant exports for South Africa, rose on Tuesday, primarily due to lower Treasury yields.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US dollar remained relatively stable against a basket of currencies as investors remained cautious, treating any news of progress in resolving the Iran conflict with scepticism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This caution stems from the fragile ceasefire established between the US and Iran in early April.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts noted that the rand is likely to remain highly sensitive to shifts in global risk appetite and developments in energy markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 index rose by 2.3%, driven by strong performance in mining stocks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Wednesday, 3 June, the rand was trading at R16.27 to the dollar, R21.90 to the pound, and R18.91 to the euro. Gold is trading lower at $4,471.31 an ounce, while oil prices were at $97.08 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening in South Africa today<\/h2>\n\n\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
View of Akademia\u2019s land for its planned Paarl campus with the Wemmershoek Mountains in the background.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Steenhuisen’s missing R500 million handed to the SIU:<\/strong> Minister of Agriculture, John Steenhuisen, said that his investigation into a questionable R500 million Onderstepoort Biological Products project is now with the Special Investigating Unit (SIU). Shortly after taking office in August 2024, he flagged that a significant portion of the funds was unaccounted for. Steenhuisen said that a forensic audit was needed to find where the money went. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Private Afrikaans university coming to the Western Cape:\u00a0<\/strong>In an update on the building progress of Solidarity\u2019s R3.2-billion Akademia private university campus in Pretoria East, Akademia a<\/span>lso announced it secured land for a second comprehensive campus to be built in the Western Cape. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Highest petrol price in history in effect:<\/strong>\u00a0The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has published the official fuel price adjustments for June. It confirmed that inland 95 unleaded petrol will increase by R1.43 per litre to a record R28.06 per litre. Inland diesel 0.005% wholesale fell to R29.26 per litre. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Godongwana says no more state banks:<\/strong>\u00a0Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana said the government has no intention of establishing another new state-owned commercial bank. He said it’s not feasible given SA’s fiscal constraints, and the country already has a number of state banks. [Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Bank of America<\/strong> shares good news about South Africa:<\/strong> Bank of America expects strong deal-making activity in South Africa to continue this year despite ongoing global volatility, the head of its local operation said.\u00a0[Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Wednesday, 3 June 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":862310,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-862308","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\/862308","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=862308"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862308\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":862313,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/862308\/revisions\/862313"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/862310"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=862308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=862308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=862308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}