{"id":869799,"date":"2026-08-12T07:21:16","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T05:21:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=869799"},"modified":"2026-08-12T07:21:16","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T05:21:16","slug":"dark-clouds-for-mtn-and-new-laws-to-give-government-more-power-over-schools-under-fire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/869799\/dark-clouds-for-mtn-and-new-laws-to-give-government-more-power-over-schools-under-fire\/","title":{"rendered":"Dark clouds for MTN, and new laws to give government more power over schools under fire"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand stayed strong on Tuesday, close to a five-month high, despite the release of weak employment and manufacturing data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand traded at 16.18 to the dollar, with little change from its previous close and close to its strongest since 2 March.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The currency was supported by weak U.S. job market data, which quelled fears of interest rate hikes and reignited risk appetite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. consumer price data and producer price figures are due this week and will give further clues on the Federal Reserve’s approach down the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand will largely take cues from foreign currency movements, like other risk-sensitive currencies, as well as domestic data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s official unemployment rate rose to 33.6% in the second quarter of the year, a 0.9% rise from the start of 2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separately, manufacturing output fell by 1.7% year-on-year in June, after already decreasing in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond weakened, dropping by 11.5 basis points to a yield of 8.42%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Tuesday, 11 August, 2026, the rand was trading at R16.19 to the dollar, R21.87 to the pound, and R18.68 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,401.10 an ounce, while oil prices were at $89.45 a barrel. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

New regulations threaten schools across South Africa:<\/strong> An education researcher has warned that the new Bela regulations could undermine schools’ autonomy. [NewsDay<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iran delivers blow to MTN earnings:<\/strong> In a recent trading statement, MTN said that there would be significant changes to its earnings, largely due to its overseas operations. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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One in three South Africans cannot find work:<\/strong> The latest unemployment data shows that 33.6% of South Africans are left without a job. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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City Power battles 6,000+ outage calls as Joburg cold snap drives up demand:<\/strong> The recent cold snap has put pressure on Johannesburg’s service delivery, leaving many without power. [ENCA<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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New mandatory electricity meter rollout in Cape Town:<\/strong> A mandatory meter replacement programme will be taking place in Cape Town over the coming months. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are 5 important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Wednesday, 12 August 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":856798,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2087409259893882933","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2173739113446488","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18025039112899356","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[20522,7376,28,3651],"class_list":["post-869799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-bela","tag-city-power","tag-mtn","tag-unemployment"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869799","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=869799"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":869803,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869799\/revisions\/869803"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/856798"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}