5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

• Major SOEs made a mockery: Only one of South Africa’s 19 major state-owned enterprises received a clean audit in the past year, said Auditor-General Tsakani Maluleke. “Those auditees with the greatest impact on the lives of South Africans and on government finances, which we refer to as ‘high-impact auditees’, are lagging behind on financial and performance management disciplines,” she added. [News24]

• Lowest level in 30 years: South Africa’s rail bottlenecks threaten to curb coal deliveries to its main export hub for a sixth consecutive year, according to one of the biggest producers in the nation. Shipments of coal from mines to Richards Bay Coal Terminal are on pace to reach 47.4 million tons this year, Exxaro Resources said in a statement Wednesday. That would miss Transnet’s own target and be the lowest level in at least three decades. [Daily Investor]

• Threat to food security: Eskom’s rotational power cuts pose a significant threat to the country’s food chain, with farmers estimating losses of up to half of their yields due to load-shedding. This is because irrigation systems that farmers rely on heavily during heatwaves and droughts can’t put down enough water between bouts of load-shedding. [MyBroadband]

• Be more like the Chinese: President Cyril Ramaphosa wants South Africans to be more like the Chinese and to stop badmouthing their own country. He wants citizens to be messengers and tell the ANC government’s good story about South Africa instead. He noted that South Africans should balance the narrative because there really are good stories to tell. [702]

• Markets: The South African rand gained on Wednesday after a U.S. Federal Reserve official flagged a possible interest rate cut in the coming months, while the local central bank said systemic risks to financial stability remained elevated. On Thursday (30 November), the rand was trading at R18.72 to the dollar, R23.78 to the pound and R20.54 to the euro. Oil is trading at $82.95 a barrel. [Reuters]