{"id":867655,"date":"2026-07-28T07:21:02","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T05:21:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=867655"},"modified":"2026-07-28T07:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T05:21:02","slug":"the-billionaire-who-could-become-south-africas-next-president-and-south-africa-sends-a-message-to-the-united-states","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/867655\/the-billionaire-who-could-become-south-africas-next-president-and-south-africa-sends-a-message-to-the-united-states\/","title":{"rendered":"The billionaire who could become South Africa’s next president, and South Africa sends a message to the United States"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand strengthened slightly on Monday, making up for losses from the previous week due to a pause in global conflict.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A pause in the war between the U.S. and Iran led to lower oil prices and improved market sentiment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand was trading at 16.67 to the dollar on Monday, roughly 1% up from the previous day’s close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It lost about 2% of its value to the dollar last week, after the Reserve Bank\u2019s decision to hold interest rates, defying many economists\u2019 expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Umkhulu Treasury analyst Adam Phillips said, \u201cThe rand’s medium-term trading range has shifted to 16.50-17.50 per dollar, although I think it would take something very significant for the currency to break through the 17.00 level in the medium term.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Global oil prices dropped by roughly 6% on Monday, after the U.S. and Iran paused strikes over the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pause in the conflict gives renewed hope that a diplomatic solution can be reached to de-escalate the fighting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

An end to the conflict could mean the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, a crucial channel for the global oil trade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s benchmark 2035 government bond strengthened slightly, with the yield falling by 9 basis points to 8.65%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, 28 July 2026, the rand was trading at R16.80 to the dollar, R22.34 to the pound, and R19.10 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,041.18 an ounce, while oil prices were at $87.27 a barrel. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

The billionaire who could become South Africa\u2019s next President:<\/strong> Patrice Motsepe has built a business empire in South Africa. He is now promoted as a potential candidate for the next ANC Presidency and, ultimately, the South African President. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

South Africa sends a message to the United States:<\/strong> South Africa says it will continue to engage with the United States in an effort to reduce or remove the latest tariffs imposed by Washington. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Cape Town sitting on a goldmine:<\/strong> Inospace CEO Rael Levitt said that Cape Town can benefit from the global data centre goldmine, but that a legal gap could derail this development. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

South Africa\u2019s biggest petrol company is preparing to shut down a major refinery:<\/strong> Sasol\u2019s National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa facility in Sasolburg has ramped up production by 76% as it prepares for a scheduled maintenance shutdown in early 2027. [TopAuto<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

America tried to interfere in South African copyright law:<\/strong> Cory Doctorow said that the United States tried to pressure South Africa into removing certain provisions from an amendment to the Copyright Act. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are 5 important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Tuesday, 28 July 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":867656,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2081973440811016697","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[16632,4136,2240,10022],"class_list":["post-867655","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-things","tag-patrice-motsepe","tag-sasol","tag-united-states"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867655","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=867655"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867655\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":867660,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/867655\/revisions\/867660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/867656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=867655"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=867655"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=867655"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}