{"id":882262,"date":"2026-11-01T07:52:39","date_gmt":"2026-11-01T05:52:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/?p=882262"},"modified":"2026-11-01T07:52:39","modified_gmt":"2026-11-01T05:52:39","slug":"heineken-in-hot-water-in-south-africa-and-social-unrest-warning-ahead-of-elections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/5-things\/882262\/heineken-in-hot-water-in-south-africa-and-social-unrest-warning-ahead-of-elections\/","title":{"rendered":"Heineken in hot water in South Africa, and social unrest warning ahead of elections"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The rand weakened to below R16.60\/$ from R16.36 last week, reversing recent gains. This decline was driven by a robust US dollar, high oil prices, weaker precious metals, and broader pressure across emerging-market currencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the rand remained more resilient than its peers. The Brazilian real fell over 7% across the week due to fiscal concerns following President Lula da Silva\u2019s election victory, while the Mexican peso, Korean won, and Indian rupee also softened.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The US dollar stayed strong on expectations of prolonged high interest rates and safe-haven demand, despite trimming some gains after the Federal Reserve held rates steady.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Markets are pricing in an 80% chance of a December hike. Major US equity indices (S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow) and the Nikkei retreated, whereas European markets finished mixed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going against global trends, South Africa\u2019s JSE All Share Index climbed 1.9%, lifted by financial and basic material shares.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brent crude stayed elevated\u2014below the prior week’s $117\/bbl\u2014fueled by Middle East tensions and concerns over potential US action regarding Iran post-election. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The South African 10-year government bond yield dropped from 8.64% to 8.56%, helped by National Treasury commitments in the Medium-Term Budget Policy Statement to curb public debt growth, which offset higher producer inflation and currency weakness. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday, 1 November 2026, the rand was trading at R16.72 to the dollar, R22.36 to the pound, and R18.64 to the euro. Gold is trading at $3,875.53, while oil prices are at $113.40 a barrel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

Heineken in hot water: <\/strong>Heineken Beverages is under pressure after the Competition Commission said it is in apparent breach of the conditions attached to a 2023 merger. The owners of Strongbow cider said they have been disadvantaged by Heineken’s efforts to push the Hunters and Savanna brands. [eNCA<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Social unrest<\/strong> warning:<\/strong>\u00a0Defence Minister Angie Motshekga warned that anti-illegal immigration protests risk overstretching the SANDF ahead of the local government elections, while escalating taxi and gang violence in Cape Town threatens voter access to polling stations. [EWN<\/a>][TimesLive<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Joburg’s 12,000km nightmare:<\/strong> The City of Johannesburg has a network of 12,000 kilometres that needs to be repaired or replaced. However, in the past reporting cycle, only 17 kilometres were attended to.\u00a0[Daily Investor<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Triple tax for households in South Africa:\u00a0<\/strong>South African homeowners are paying three times over to secure basic services, as unreliable municipal electricity and water supplies push households to invest in private alternatives. [BusinessTech<\/a>]<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Bad news for electric vehicle owners in South Africa:<\/strong>\u00a0South African electric vehicle (EV) drivers must be prepared to queue for their turn at public EV charging stations during the upcoming summer holiday. [MyBroadband<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here are five things happening in and affecting South Africa on Sunday, 1 November 2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":850027,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sma_x_autopost_status":"posted","_sma_x_autopost_error":"","_sma_x_post_id":"2116771730198802575","_sma_facebook_post_id":"191437357620492_2256722901814775","_sma_instagram_post_id":"18146824285601984","_sma_x_attempts":1,"footnotes":""},"categories":[20398],"tags":[18993,853],"class_list":["post-882262","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\/882262","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=882262"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882262\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":882264,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/882262\/revisions\/882264"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/850027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=882262"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=882262"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=882262"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}