5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Hail destruction: A massive hailstorm hit several parts of Joburg – damaging hundreds of properties, cars, municipal infrastructure and leaving roads covered in a pile of hail. Parts of the Southern Sun Hotel in Rosebank even suffered a partial structural collapse, resulting in guests having to be evacuated. No fatalities or injuries have been reported as yet. [EWN]

• Secret SAA bailouts: Cemair CEO Miles van der Molen believes that SAA will receive more bailouts, despite the government’s promise to stop funding. So far, R27.9 billion has been spent on the state-owned airline since the business rescue process began. Van der Molen added that South Africans should be sceptical about the state’s promise that there will be no more bailouts for SAA. [Daily Investor]

•  It gets worse for Transnet: Ratings agency Moody’s Investors Service has placed Transnet’s credit ratings on review for a downgrade, saying that it is concerned about the entity’s weakening liquidity position and high refinancing risk. [Business Day]

• Preferential treatment: An investigation by a law firm regarding millions of rand in loans the Gauteng Partnership Fund (GPF) advanced to a company owned by deputy president Paul Mashatile’s son-in-law Nceba Nonkwelo found that the GPF bent over backwards and went out of its way to finance Nonkwelo’s projects. This is despite granting Nonkwelo’s company a series of loans of about R25 million between 2013 and 2017 to build student accommodation, which he never did.[News24]

• Markets: The South African rand edged lower against the dollar on Monday, ahead of several closely watched local and global economic data releases. The rand fell more than 2% against the U.S. currency last week, mirroring declines in other emerging market currencies, as hawkish comments by U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell lifted the dollar and dented global risk appetite. On Tuesday (14 November), the rand was trading at R18.73 to the dollar, R22.99 to the pound and R20.04 to the euro. Oil is trading at $82.83 a barrel. [Reuters]