{"id":871010,"date":"2026-08-20T07:17:55","date_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871010"},"modified":"2026-08-20T07:17:55","modified_gmt":"2026-08-20T05:17:55","slug":"bad-news-for-licence-disc-renewals-in-south-africa-and-the-problem-driving-joburgs-decline","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/871010\/bad-news-for-licence-disc-renewals-in-south-africa-and-the-problem-driving-joburgs-decline\/","title":{"rendered":"Bad news for licence disc renewals in South Africa, and the problem driving Joburg’s decline"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand strengthened on Wednesday amid easing inflation rates, which slowed for the first time in months thanks to lower food inflation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand traded at 16.15 to the dollar, up approximately 0.7% from its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Consumer inflation eased to 4.3% year-on-year in July, down from 5% in June and below many economists’ expectations of 4.5%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Analysts warned that inflation could rise again with Middle East conflicts driving oil prices higher since July.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“We forecast headline inflation to end the year at around 4.1% and to average 4% in 2026. However, risks remain tilted to the upside, primarily due to uncertainty surrounding the U.S.-Iran conflict,” Nedbank economists said in a note.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Separate data from Stats SA showed that retail sales rose 1.6% year-on-year in June, after rising by a revised 2.2% in May.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s 2035 benchmark government bond strengthened slightly, with the yield falling seven basis points to 8.465%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Thursday, 20 August 2026, the rand was trading at R16.11 to the dollar, R21.92 to the pound, and R18.81 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,490.99 an ounce, while oil prices were at $91.84 a barrel. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Bad news about online licence disc renewals in South Africa:<\/strong> South African motorists have fewer online licence disc renewal services available to them than in previous years, and the price of the cheapest option recently increased by roughly 43%. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Leadership turmoil is the main driver of Joburg\u2019s decline, says CDE:<\/strong> Repeated leadership changes have caused Johannesburg’s decline, according to the Centre for Development and Enterprise. [BusinessDay<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Warning about cheaper electricity prices in South Africa:<\/strong> The announcement of an overhaul of South Africa\u2019s electricity tariff framework has drawn sharp criticism from energy experts, who warn that it is unlikely to translate into lower prices. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Major banks still facing prosecution for rand manipulation in South Africa:<\/strong> The Competition Commission says it will pursue prosecutions against seven major banks as part of its investigations into rand manipulation. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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R4 billion in fresh produce lost at the Port of Cape Town last season:<\/strong> Problems at the Port of Cape Town resulted in the loss of R4 billion in fresh produce last season, and there is a risk of a repeat this season. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are 5 important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Thursday, 20 August 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":822992,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"failed","_sma_x_autopost_error":"Instagram publishing failed: Instagram returned HTTP 400: Media ID is not available","_sma_x_post_id":"2090307600575250784","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2181367966016936","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[16632,1996,26225,2006],"class_list":["post-871010","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-things","tag-johannesburg","tag-license-discs","tag-nersa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871010","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=871010"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871010\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871013,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871010\/revisions\/871013"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822992"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871010"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871010"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871010"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}