{"id":874011,"date":"2026-09-05T07:27:07","date_gmt":"2026-09-05T05:27:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=874011"},"modified":"2026-09-05T07:27:07","modified_gmt":"2026-09-05T05:27:07","slug":"government-coming-after-homeowners-in-small-town-and-man-behind-rising-electricity-prices-received-a-r13-52-million-at-eskom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/874011\/government-coming-after-homeowners-in-small-town-and-man-behind-rising-electricity-prices-received-a-r13-52-million-at-eskom\/","title":{"rendered":"Government coming after homeowners in small town, and man behind rising electricity prices received a R13.52 million at Eskom"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The South African rand was stable in early trading on Friday as attention shifted to the highly anticipated US jobs data for insights into the Federal Reserve&#8217;s next interest rate decision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The rand was trading at 15.9975 against the dollar, showing little change from its previous close.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The US nonfarm payrolls report is set to be released at 12:30 GMT, and the unemployment rate is expected to remain steady at 4.1%.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like other emerging market currencies, the rand often follows global trends influenced by US economic data and geopolitical developments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>ETM Analytics noted that if employment growth falls short of expectations, it would support the argument for the Federal Reserve to maintain interest rates at current levels.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It added that it would also reduce speculation about a rate hike in September, and likely strengthen the South African rand against the dollar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>South Africa&#8217;s benchmark 2035 government bond was slightly firmer in early trading, with the yield decreasing by 1.5 basis points to 8.565%. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.reuters.com\/world\/africa\/south-african-rand-treads-water-before-us-jobs-data-markets-assess-fed-rate-path-2026-09-04\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Saturday, 5 September 2026, the rand was trading at R15.99 to the dollar, R21.58 to the pound, and R18.57 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,430.03, while oil prices were at $96.28 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">5 important things happening today<\/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\/2024\/06\/Calib-Cassim.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"576\" src=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Calib-Cassim-1024x576.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-779410\" srcset=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Calib-Cassim-1024x576.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Calib-Cassim-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Calib-Cassim-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/Calib-Cassim.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Municipality goes after homeowners disconnected from the grid:<\/strong>\u00a0Thaba Chweu, located in Mpumalanga with Lydenburg as its seat, has 19,294 customers, 53.63% of whom are residential. Nersa&#8217;s recent decision approved a R582.64 levy on &#8220;networks that are available but not connected&#8221; as part of the municipality\u2019s 2026 electricity tariff application. [<a href=\"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/energy\/873950\/new-r582-tax-for-solar-users-in-south-africa-under-fire\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Man behind rising electricity prices received a R13.52 million at Eskom:\u00a0<\/strong>Calib Cassim, Eskom&#8217;s CFO, earned a remuneration package of R13.52 million in the 2026 financial year, surpassing that of CEO Dan Marokane. A veteran at the utility, Cassim signed Eskom&#8217;s electricity tariff applications to NERSA. [<a href=\"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/energy\/666015-man-behind-rising-electricity-prices-in-south-africa-received-a-r13-52-million-pay-package-at-eskom.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Woolworths approved to buy one of its major suppliers:<\/strong> Woolworths has received the green light from South Africa\u2019s Competition Commission to acquire In2food, one of the retailer\u2019s key suppliers. [<a href=\"https:\/\/dailyinvestor.com\/retail\/152894\/woolworths-gets-the-green-light-to-buy-one-of-its-major-suppliers\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>A company borrowed R333 million from the PIC, did not pay it back, and then received R432 million:<\/strong>\u00a0The Public Investment Corporation (PIC) is under scrutiny for its R432 million payment to Acapulco, which failed to repay a previous R333 million loan. [<a href=\"https:\/\/newsday.co.za\/business\/26205\/a-company-borrowed-r333-million-from-the-pic-did-not-pay-it-back-and-then-received-r432-million\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Car prices warning in South Africa:<\/strong>\u00a0Ford Africa&#8217;s president, Neale Hill, supports improved vehicle safety regulations in South Africa. However, he stressed that the new laws may raise prices on new cars, pushing consumers further to cars from China. [<a href=\"https:\/\/www.businessday.co.za\/business-times\/2026-09-05-safer-vehicles-could-drive-up-prices-in-sa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Business Day<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here are five important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Saturday, 5 September 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":863028,"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":"2096108080131960893","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2196375181182881","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-874011","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-important-things-happening-in-south-africa-today","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874011","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\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=874011"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874011\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":874018,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/874011\/revisions\/874018"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/863028"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=874011"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=874011"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=874011"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}