{"id":867156,"date":"2026-07-23T07:31:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T05:31:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867156"},"modified":"2026-07-23T08:03:26","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T06:03:26","slug":"cape-town-spending-r6-billion-on-its-eskom-escape-plan-and-good-news-for-south-africans-with-green-id-books","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/867156\/cape-town-spending-r6-billion-on-its-eskom-escape-plan-and-good-news-for-south-africans-with-green-id-books\/","title":{"rendered":"Cape Town spending R6 billion on its Eskom escape plan, and good news for South Africans with green ID books"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand has stayed steady despite inflation figures exceeding expectations, reaching 5% in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most economists expected an increase to roughly 4.7%, but the renewed conflict in Iran led the rate to reach its highest level in two years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has shifted the focus to the Monetary Policy Committee\u2019s announcement of interest rate adjustments today, which may be influenced by high inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists were previously divided over whether the committee would decide to hold interest rates or raise them by 25 basis points.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, many economists believe a 25-basis-point increase is on the cards to help the South African Reserve Bank return to its inflation target of 3%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s benchmark 2035 government bond took a hit from the inflation announcement, rising by 12 basis points to 8.665%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand saw little change at R16.37, modestly improved from its previous close of R16.45 and continuing its slight upward trend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) has seen growth, with the top 40 index rising by 0.9%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, 23 July 2026, the rand was trading at R16.37 to the dollar, R21.91 to the pound, and R18.72 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,121.55 per ounce, while oil prices are at $96.03 per barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Cape Town spending R6 billion on its Eskom escape plan:<\/strong> The City of Cape Town has revealed plans to spend R6 billion over the next three years to reduce its reliance on Eskom power. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Good news for South Africans with green ID books:<\/strong> South Africans can now visit 541 locations across the country to obtain a smart ID card and replace their old and fraud-prone green ID books. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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R11 billion government project left buildings empty and stripped by criminals:<\/strong> The Montrose Mega City Human Settlements Project in Randfontein has been abandoned and is now in a state of decay. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South Africa\u2019s dirty R721 billion secret: <\/strong>The economic cost of air pollution in South Africa is estimated at R721 billion, including lost working days and significant pressure on the public healthcare system. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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IDAC head accused of ‘misusing power’ to pursue Crime Intelligence cops:<\/strong> The head of the Investigating Directorate Against Corruption (IDAC), Andrea Johnson, came under fire during her testimony at the Madlanga commission. [EWN<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are the 5 things happening in and affecting South Africa on Thursday, 23 July.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":867163,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2080164015494386079","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[16632,2279,1164,25886,3618,25887],"class_list":["post-867156","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-things","tag-cape-town","tag-eskom","tag-inflation-rates","tag-monetary-policy-committee","tag-montrose-mega-city"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867156","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\/131"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=867156"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867156\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867172,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867156\/revisions\/867172"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867163"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867156"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867156"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867156"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}