{"id":866775,"date":"2026-07-20T07:13:33","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:13:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=866775"},"modified":"2026-07-20T07:13:33","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T05:13:33","slug":"government-coming-after-one-group-of-homeowners-and-bad-news-for-bacon-lovers-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/866775\/government-coming-after-one-group-of-homeowners-and-bad-news-for-bacon-lovers-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Government coming after one group of homeowners, and bad news for bacon lovers in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The South African rand has been weaker over the past week as investors await South Africa\u2019s inflation data and the next interest rate decision this week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand traded at 16.57 against the dollar on Friday, roughly \u200bdown 1% from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The currency has remained under pressure for most of the week as tensions in the Middle East weighed on risk sentiment, pushing it to \u200bits weakest level this month.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Traders are now focused on June \u200bconsumer inflation data due on Wednesday for fresh clues on the South African Reserve Bank\u2019s (SARB) plans on interest rates.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Headline inflation rose less than expected \u200bto 4.5% year on year in May, from 4.0% in \u200bApril. Analysts had forecast 4.7% for the May figure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Johann Els, chief economist \u200cat \u2060PSG Financial Services, expects inflation to edge up to 4.7% in June and for the SARB to leave its main lending rate unchanged at next week\u2019s meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Els said the renewed conflict in the Middle East and the resulting rise in oil prices had complicated the policy outlook, keeping a 25-basis-point increase on the table.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The central \u200bbank raised its \u2060main lending rate for the first time in three years at its previous meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the Johannesburg Stock Exchange, the Top-40 \u2060index was \u200bdown 1.2%. The yield on South Africa\u2019s \u200bbenchmark 2035 government bond dropped by 9 basis points to 8.54%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, 20 July 2026, the rand was trading at R16.52 to the dollar, R22.24 to the pound, and R18.90 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,014.34 an ounce, while oil prices were at $90.24 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Struggling municipalities coming after solar users<\/strong>: Financially distressed municipalities are turning to additional charges on households with rooftop solar systems as a new source of funding, rather than addressing the root causes of their financial problems. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Bad news for bacon lovers<\/strong>: South African consumers may see higher pork prices due to outbreaks of African swine fever and foot-and-mouth disease, adding pressure to already strained household food budgets. [Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New BEE tax proposed<\/strong>: Former Reserve Bank Deputy Governor Kuben Naidoo supports entrepreneur Alan Knott-Craig\u2019s proposal for a new tax or voluntary levy to fund black economic empowerment (BEE). Knott-Craig suggested a 3% levy on company revenue to South Africa\u2019s Minister of Trade and Industry, which would help companies achieve a Level 3 B-BBEE certification. [Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Scam targeting shoppers in South Africa<\/strong>: South Africans are being warned about a scam targeting people outside supermarkets, where someone asks for food instead of cash but allegedly exploits the transaction to get money back. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Government struggle to identify hijacked buildings:<\/strong>\u00a0Gauteng\u2019s Department of Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (CoGTA) has missed its deadline to identify hijacked buildings in the province due to the proliferation of the problem. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Monday, 20 July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":863028,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2079072322665726117","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-866775","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\/866775","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=866775"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866775\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":866778,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866775\/revisions\/866778"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}