{"id":866914,"date":"2026-07-21T07:26:40","date_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=866914"},"modified":"2026-07-21T07:26:40","modified_gmt":"2026-07-21T05:26:40","slug":"major-city-ordered-to-stop-threatening-private-schools-and-state-owned-company-owes-south-africans-r21-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/866914\/major-city-ordered-to-stop-threatening-private-schools-and-state-owned-company-owes-south-africans-r21-billion\/","title":{"rendered":"Major city ordered to stop threatening private schools, and state-owned company owes South Africans R21 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand remained steady on Monday ahead of this week’s monetary policy decision from the South African Reserve Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Higher oil prices and continued risk aversion limited its ability to benefit from a weaker US dollar. The rand traded at 16.54 against the dollar, showing little change from its previous close of 16.52.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oil prices surged by about 3% on Monday, with Brent crude prices exceeding $90 per barrel. This increase was driven by escalating hostilities between the US and Iran in the Middle East, which restricted oil shipments through the Strait of Hormuz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US dollar also held steady against a basket of currencies. The demand for safe-haven assets amid US-Iran tensions was balanced by expectations that the Federal Reserve would keep interest rates unchanged in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Market analysts indicate that the rand is awaiting direction from the central bank as it struggles to capitalise on a subdued dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Domestically focused investors are paying close attention to the June Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, which will be released on Wednesday, and the central bank’s rate decision on Thursday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond weakened, with the yield rising by 5.5 basis points to 8.59%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, 21 July 2026, the rand was trading at R16.48 to the dollar, R22.15 to the pound, and R18.81 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,047.10 an ounce, while oil prices were at $88.52 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things happening today<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Order to stop threatening private schools<\/strong>: The High Court has barred the City of Johannesburg from threatening to cut electricity to independent schools that are legally challenging its decision to impose a “business and commercial” tariff, following a strong judgment on the city’s actions. [Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Africans owed R21 billion<\/strong>: The Road Accident Fund (RAF) currently owes South Africans R21 billion in unpaid claims, Minister of Transport, Barbara Creecy, revealed. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Gautrain land expropriation<\/strong>: The imminent expansion of the Gautrain could change how land expropriation is handled in South Africa, with regions in Soweto, Mamelodi, and the West Rand among the first to begin seeing expropriation. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Good news for South Africans<\/strong>: South Africa is now the only African nation whose citizens can apply for a Japanese tourist visa through Japan\u2019s electronic visa (eVisa) system. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Africa\u2019s biggest asset manager invested in a company it realised was a scam:\u00a0<\/strong>The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) invested R100 million into Enable Capital before it realised it was a fraudulent scheme, halting future investments.\u00a0[Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Tuesday, 21 July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":782573,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2079437981455167913","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-866914","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\/866914","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=866914"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866914\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":866916,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/866914\/revisions\/866916"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782573"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=866914"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=866914"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=866914"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}