{"id":879050,"date":"2026-10-09T07:37:04","date_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:37:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=879050"},"modified":"2026-10-09T07:37:07","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T05:37:07","slug":"social-unrest-in-south-africa-turns-to-violence-and-looting-and-helen-zille-hit-with-criminal-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/879050\/social-unrest-in-south-africa-turns-to-violence-and-looting-and-helen-zille-hit-with-criminal-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Social unrest in South Africa turns to violence and looting, and Helen Zille hit with criminal case"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand was steady on Thursday despite weaker-than-expected manufacturing data, supported by a subdued dollar as investors weigh up the chances of another rate hike in the US.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rand traded at 16.6149 against the dollar on Thursday, close to its previous close.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s manufacturing output fell by 4.3% year-on-year in August, after rising in July, according to Stats SA.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Economists polled by Reuters had expected a 0.6% increase, while Nedbank had forecast a slip back into the negatives after a strong July performance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The manufacturing industry is under pressure from high input and power costs, while US tariffs and high fuel prices also weigh on production, according to Nedbank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dollar was flat against a basket of currencies on Thursday, as investors weighed up the chances of another Federal Reserve rate hike.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes after the Fed’s September meeting, where minutes revealed divisions among policymakers over the country’s monetary policy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This has an impact on the rand, which is sensitive to global factors such as US monetary policy, as well as domestic data.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

South Africa’s benchmark 2035 government bond weakened, with the yield rising by 2 basis points to 8.855%. [Reuters<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Friday, 9 October 2026, the rand was trading at R16.52 to the dollar, R21.88 to the pound, and R18.55 to the euro. Gold is trading at $4,186.95, while oil prices were at $102.80 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Police, soldiers occupy Soweto after violent anti-illegal immigration protest:<\/strong> Police and soldiers have been brought into Soweto, following violent anti-immigration protests where cars were torched on Thursday. [EWN<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Criminal case opened against Helen Zille:<\/strong> The MK Party has opened a crimen injuria case against the Democratic Alliance\u2019s mayoral candidate for Johannesburg, Helen Zille. [Newsday<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Call for R5.25 cut to petrol and diesel prices in South Africa:<\/strong> The AA has called for the General Fuel Levy to be cut by R3 per litre and the Road Accident Fund Levy to be scrapped. [DailyInvestor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The dark side of Eskom\u2019s load-shedding victory:<\/strong> Analysis by Frans Cronj\u00e9 Private Clients and The Common Sense shows that Eskom is supplying a shrinking share of South Africa\u2019s electricity. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Absa director resigns with immediate effect:<\/strong> Alpheus Mangale has resigned from his role as an independent non-executive director at Absa, effective 8 October 2026. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are 5 important things happening in and affecting South Africa on Friday, 9 October 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":131,"featured_media":879063,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","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":"2108431782978687029","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2231173117703087","_sma_instagram_post_id":"","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[16632,1569,9976],"class_list":["post-879050","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-5-things","tag-5-things","tag-helen-zille","tag-soweto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879050","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=879050"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879050\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":879065,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/879050\/revisions\/879065"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/879063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=879050"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=879050"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=879050"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}