5 important things happening in South Africa today

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

Eskom leadership disaster: The leadership vacuum at Eskom, which has been without a permanent CEO for most of the year, may deepen as the end of the employment contract of CFO Calib Cassim looms. This comes as negotiations to get lender consent for the unbundling of Eskom has not yet been finalised, and Minister Of Electricity Kgosientsho Ramokgopa is wooing investors to spend big bucks on strengthening the Eskom grid. Peter Attard Montalto, MD and global head of capital markets and political economy at Krutham, said if the CEO appointment is further delayed and Cassim leaves as well, it “will seriously alarm creditors”. [Moneyweb]

SA’s Lawyer problem:  21,123 complaints of misconduct have been levelled against South African lawyers from 2020 to 2023, but the Legal Practice Council (LPC) says only 175 resulted in those legal practitioners being barred from practising – a figure that is 0.8% of all those complaints. This enquiry into complaints against lawyers comes after an attorney in the Eastern Cape received a R15.2 million state medical negligence payout for a severely disabled child three years ago, but – when he finally set up a trust for the now 9-year-old girl – only R50,000 of that amount had been deposited into it. The attorney is one of 310 lawyers who have been suspended by the LPC in recent years. [News24]

Hard line on construction mafia: Public works and infrastructure minister Sihle Zikalala has taken a hard line on the construction mafia, saying he is not ruling out the possibility of roping in the army to deal with those undermining infrastructure development in South Africa. Zikalala said he is willing to facilitate discussions with people with a genuine interest in entering the construction industry, but he will not tolerate criminal elements. Experts say the disruption of construction projects has cost the economy more than R63 billion since 2019, and a permanent solution to the matter is needed urgently. [TimesLive]

Plan to tackle bird flu crisis: The South African government plans to fast-track the use of vaccines to fight bird flu as virulent strains of the disease sweep across SA’s poultry sector, risking supply. Almost 1.3 million birds were culled or killed due to the virus in the Western Cape and KwaZulu-Natal, while it is estimated that more than 1.4 million birds had been culled in Gauteng alone. Astral Foods, the country’s largest poultry producer, warned late last week of a shortage of table eggs and poultry meat in the coming months. [News24]

Markets: South Africa’s rand posted strong gains as traders pushed out expectations for interest rate cuts in the wake of a hawkish monetary policy update from the country’s central bank last week. However, some analysts said the scope for further rand appreciation was limited before the mid-term budget on 1 November, given worries over the health of South African public finances. On Tuesday (26 September), the rand was trading at R18.82/USD, R19.94/EUR and R22.97/GBP. Oil is trading at $92.86 a barrel. [Reuters]