{"id":871636,"date":"2026-08-24T07:19:26","date_gmt":"2026-08-24T05:19:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=871636"},"modified":"2026-08-24T07:19:26","modified_gmt":"2026-08-24T05:19:26","slug":"da-under-siege-and-good-news-for-anyone-who-hates-spam-calls-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/871636\/da-under-siege-and-good-news-for-anyone-who-hates-spam-calls-in-south-africa\/","title":{"rendered":"DA under siege, and good news for anyone who hates spam calls in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand reached its strongest level since the start of the war in Iran on Friday, boosted by higher gold prices and a weaker dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand traded at 15.99 to the dollar on Friday, approximately 0.8% stronger than its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gold, one of South Africa’s key exports, rose to a more than three-month high and was on track for its third consecutive week of gains.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The commodity was strengthened by a weaker U.S. dollar, after the U.S. Treasury announced that it would increase buybacks of longer-dated securities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said he may further increase Treasury repurchases after announcing that it would double the size of its buybacks over the next quarter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like many other emerging-market currencies, the rand is sensitive to global policy shifts, particularly since the onset of the war in Iran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond was firmer in early deals on Friday, with the yield falling 0.5 basis points to 8.56%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Monday, 24 August, 2026, the rand was trading at R16.00 to the dollar, R21.83 to the pound, and R18.69 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,641.53 an ounce, while oil prices were at $93.13 a barrel. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

5 important things<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Serious allegations against the DA in Johannesburg:<\/strong> Freedom Front Plus leader Corne Mulder said the DA was to blame for the collapse of the Johannesburg coalition and may have orchestrated the city\u2019s collapse. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Say goodbye to spam calls in South Africa:<\/strong> The National Consumer Commission says it is almost ready to launch its Opt-Out Registry system, which will allow consumers to opt out of spam calls from individual companies or the entire industry. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Skilled workers in South Africa\u2019s richest city looking to emigrate:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s richest city, Johannesburg, is facing a technology brain drain as many professionals consider moving to Australia. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tables turn on South Africa\u2019s rand:<\/strong> South Africa\u2019s rand has staged one of its strongest runs since the outbreak of the Iran war over the past month. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Abuse of power exposed at Tembisa Hospital prevalent across local govt, says Cachalia:<\/strong> South Africa’s acting Police Minister said that the abuse of power exposed at Tembisa Hospital is not an isolated issue in the country’s government. [EWN<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are 5 important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Monday, 24 August 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":822030,"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":"2091757410360648122","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2185001175653615","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[16632,1329,1569,23638],"class_list":["post-871636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-things","tag-da","tag-helen-zille","tag-spam-calls"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871636","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=871636"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871636\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":871639,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/871636\/revisions\/871639"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822030"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=871636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=871636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=871636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}