5 important things happening in South Africa today

Here’s what is happening in and affecting South Africa today:

• Free extra marks: The Department of Basic Education noted that pupils in grades four to nine will again be awarded up to 5% in extra marks in any three subjects that they fail at the end of the year. In addition to this “special mark adjustment”, they will also be condoned or “passed” in maths if they fail to get 40% in the subject but meet all the other promotion or progression requirements to the next grade. This provision also applies to other grades. The extra boost is linked to the disruptions caused to teaching and learning by the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020. [TimesLive]

• Good news for eggs: The supply of egg and poultry meat is steadily increasing following shortages triggered by a bird flu outbreak that began in April, said the Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development. In preparation for the upcoming festive season, the agriculture department said it had imported nine million fertilised eggs, 37,802 tonnes of day-old chicks, 62 tonnes of egg product and 30,986 tonnes of poultry meat under strict biosecurity risk assessments. [Mail & Guardian]

• Solar still booming: South Africa has imported over R16.5 billion worth of solar panels in the first nine months of 2023, equal to over 4,500 MW in generation capacity. This has greatly reduced the demand for electricity from Eskom, impacting the utility’s revenue and making the South African economy largely immune to the effects of load-shedding. [Daily Investor]

• SA chooses a side: South Africa could be on the verge of temporarily closing Israel’s embassy in Pretoria and suspending all diplomatic relations with it until the Middle Eastern country agrees to a ceasefire with Hamas after the ANC pledged its support on Thursday for a parliamentary motion for the move. [Business Day]

• Markets: South Africa’s rand weakened against the dollar on Thursday, slowly unwinding a rally that had sent the currency up more than 2% on Tuesday. The rand leapt on Tuesday after softer-than-expected U.S. consumer inflation data boosted expectations that the Federal Reserve might be done with interest rate hikes. On Friday (17 November), the rand was trading at R18.39 to the dollar, R22.81 to the pound and R19.95 to the euro. Oil is trading at $77.49 a barrel. [Reuters]