{"id":868580,"date":"2026-08-04T07:20:41","date_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=868580"},"modified":"2026-08-04T07:20:41","modified_gmt":"2026-08-04T05:20:41","slug":"fikile-mbalula-in-hot-water-and-petrol-price-surprise-for-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/868580\/fikile-mbalula-in-hot-water-and-petrol-price-surprise-for-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"Fikile Mbalula in hot water, and petrol price surprise for South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand stayed resilient on Monday after a manufacturing survey showed that sentiment had deteriorated in July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand was trading at 16.52 against the dollar on Monday, up approximately 0.3% from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Manufacturing sentiment weakened in July, particularly due to weak export demand and concerns about the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The index showed a downbeat forecast, with expected business conditions in six months dropping from 56.6 to 49.3.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s automotive industry released data showing that new vehicle sales increased by 11.9% year-on-year in July, down from 15.3% in June.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nedbank economists had expected this data to reach 9.2% in July, due to a previously high base and difficult economic conditions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond strengthened slightly, with the yield falling 10.5 basis points to 8.475%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, 04 August, 2026, the rand was trading at R16.50 to the dollar, R22.16 to the pound, and R19.00 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,064.01 an ounce, while oil prices were at $84.98 a barrel. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Serious allegations against Fikile Mbalula buying votes:<\/strong> ANC stalwart Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma said that Fikile Mbalula openly paid money for votes at the ANC\u2019s 2022 National Conference. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Petrol price surprise for South Africa:<\/strong> Petrol prices will unexpectedly come down by 52 cents per litre in August, offering some relief to motorists. Diesel prices, however, are rising by over R1 per litre. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Eskom municipal debt reaches R119 billion:<\/strong> Eskom chairman Mteto Nyati said that municipal arrear debt owing to the power utility had reached R119 billion, during the endorsement of the EERT’s new report. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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South African property giant buys R2 billion shopping mall:<\/strong> Retail real estate investment trust Hyprop Investments has acquired the Galleria Burgas Mall, a shopping centre on Bulgaria\u2019s east coast, for about R2 billion. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Aussie diggers target \u2018world-class\u2019 gas fields in Mpumalanga:<\/strong> Australian-based Kinetiko Energy Group is looking to pump commercial gas supplies to South African industries in Mpumalanga by the end of next year. [Daily Maverick<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are 5 things happening in and affecting South Africa on Tuesday, 04 August, 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":847559,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2084509910968963391","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2166185330868533","_sma_instagram_post_id":"17859643008679368","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[1164,10409,26031,3994],"class_list":["post-868580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-eskom","tag-fikile-mbalula","tag-galleria","tag-petrol"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868580","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=868580"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868580\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":868585,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/868580\/revisions\/868585"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/847559"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=868580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=868580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=868580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}