This is what is happening in South Africa affecting today:
Long recovery:
Since the crippling Transnet strike has ended, the industry Freight transport has warned that the impact of the strike will linger for months to come. The strike lasted more than a week and resulted in the blocking of Rs 65 billion worth of goods at ports and warehouses. While some of this content can now be moved, important pieces have been lost forever. The South African Freight Forwarding Association said normal operations are expected to continue until 2023. that he is considering unilaterally pushing for a controversial 3% pay increase as time runs out to put it on the books for next week ‘s medium term fiscal policy statement . He said the issue needs to be addressed urgently to bring certainty and stability to the fiscal outlook. Unions have rejected the 3% offer and are asking for a 6.5% increase. The public sector wage bill attracts about a third of the national budget. [BusinessLive]
Electricity Tariff:
Nersa Energy Regulatory Authority has suffered another blow in court, with the Supreme Court in Pretoria declaring illegal and invalid its methods approved. used to calculate the city electricity price. The regulator has been using these methods for a decade and now has 12 months to tweak them. Nersa has faced and lost a number of legal challenges to its methods, including from the power company Eskom, which normally requests double-digit increases but has denied them. [Moneyweb]
Electoral Reform:
Pushing back any criticism of the Electoral Amendment Bill – such as its failure to address constitutional flaws in existing laws – ANC and EFF teamed up to get it through parliament on Thursday. The ANC reminds the public and the media that it is not up to Congress to reform the electoral laws surrounding the office of the president. Meanwhile, the EFF said criticism came from “white capitalists” and MPs with the power to change the law. [Daily Maverick]
Markets:
The South African rand was little changed in trading on Thursday, but analysts say the fragile global risk appetite should continue to weigh on the currency. Locally, inflation eased slightly in September, to 7.5% over a year compared with 7.6% in August, in line with analyst forecasts. But retail sales were worse than expected, rising 2.0% in August compared with economists’ expectations of 4.2% growth. On Friday, the rand traded at 18.36 rand/$, 17.93 rand/€ and 20.54 rand/£. Brent is trading at $93 per barrel. [Reuters]
