{"id":870618,"date":"2026-08-18T07:26:40","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:26:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=870618"},"modified":"2026-08-18T07:26:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T05:26:40","slug":"trouble-for-iconic-shopping-mall-in-south-africa-and-da-leaders-crypto-company-under-investigation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/870618\/trouble-for-iconic-shopping-mall-in-south-africa-and-da-leaders-crypto-company-under-investigation\/","title":{"rendered":"Trouble for iconic shopping mall in South Africa, and DA leader&#8217;s crypto company under investigation"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The rand was steady this week as investors await new inflation data for clues on how South Africa&#8217;s economy is performing. The rand was trading at 16.20 on Monday, unchanged from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Stats SA is set to release the July inflation data on Wednesday, with Reuters-poll analysts anticipating a 4.5% reading.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In June, South Africa&#8217;s inflation reached 5%, up from 4.5% in May, primarily due to high transport costs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nedbank economists had forecast a reduction to 4.3%, due to lower transport costs as fuel prices have declined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The dollar edged lower against several currencies on Monday, while gold prices rose in response to the weaker U.S. currency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond was weaker, with yields rising 4.5 basis points to 8.475%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Tuesday, 18 August 2026, the rand was trading at R16.26 to the dollar, R22.00 to the pound, and R18.81 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,391.55 an ounce, while oil prices were at $91.40 a barrel. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reutersconnect.com\/all?id=tag%3Areuters.com%2C2026%3Anewsml_KBN3U80GQ%3A2&amp;search=all%3Asouth%20africa\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5 important things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a  data-lightbox=\"post-image\" href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-870536\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Mark-Burke-1.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>DA leader\u2019s crypto company accused of breaking the law:<\/strong> The Johannesburg High Court dismissed an appeal by Kastelo, a fintech and cryptocurrency arbitrage trading provider, seeking to unfreeze its bank accounts while the Reserve Bank investigates it. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/cryptocurrency\/662903-da-leaders-crypto-company-accused-of-breaking-the-law.html\">MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Iconic shopping mall in South Africa\u2019s capital city that is shrinking and losing stores:<\/strong> Brooklyn Mall in Pretoria has seen its gross lettable area expand over the past decade, except in 2025, while its vacancy rate has worsened from 5% in 2020 to 16.8% in 2025. [<a href=\"https:\/\/dailyinvestor.com\/property\/148837\/iconic-shopping-mall-in-south-africas-capital-city-that-is-shrinking-and-losing-stores\/\">DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Matlala exercises his right to remain silent in Medicare24 tender saga:<\/strong> Alleged tender fraud involvee &#8216;&#8221;Cat&#8221; Matlala opted not to answer several questions before the Madlanga commission, saying he did not want to incriminate himself. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.enca.com\/news-top-stories\/matlala-exercises-his-right-remain-silent-medicare24-tender-saga\">ENCA<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>\u2018Smaller\u2019 tech mergers in Competition Commission\u2019s crosshairs:<\/strong> The Competition Commission has warned that it will be closely scrutinising smaller mergers going forward, due to concerns of anti-competitive behaviour. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessday.co.za\/news\/2026-08-18-tech-mergers-in-competition-commissions-crosshairs-as-it-tightens-oversight\/\">BusinessDay<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Petrol price slate levy changes for South Africa are coming:<\/strong> The Department of Mineral and Petroleum Resources has gazetted a proposed change to South Africa\u2019s slate levy procedures, which will allow importers to keep part of the tax when global prices fluctuate. [<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/870551\/petrol-price-slate-levy-changes-for-south-africa-are-coming\/\">BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are 5 important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Tuesday, 18 August 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":791072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2089584849921163712","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2179494076204325","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18092888927333029","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[16632,20524,22471,22468],"class_list":["post-870618","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-things","tag-brooklyn-mall","tag-kastelo","tag-mark-burke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870618","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=870618"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870618\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":870630,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/870618\/revisions\/870630"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/791072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=870618"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=870618"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=870618"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}