It’s election fever and with it all ills come to the fore. In just over four days South Africans will be heading to the polls in the most contested municipal elections yet, with a total of 95,427 candidates having qualified to contest in 4,468 wards across the country.
From the Eastern Cape, Western Cape, Mpumalang and Gauteng to KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo, North West, Free State and the Northern Cape, the contesting parties have mostly all failed the people on service delivery, News24’s Out of Order index shows. In KwaZulu Natal, “people are being killed like flies”, in the Western Cape “children must collect scrap to buy food”, while gangsters run rampant and in the Eastern Cape the “water crisis points to a general collapse of municipalities across the country”, reports the Daily Maverick.
While parties play each off in campaigning for votes, we, the voters, can take the power into our own hands with News24’s election tool. It uses data painstakingly collected over the last two months to help arm voters with useful knowledge to make an informed decision at the polls. It’s worth checking it out!
Meanwhile the Electoral Commission of South Africa has launched its national nerve centre, where about 700 journalists at the national ROC and 700 more at the nine provincial ROCs are expected to give South Africa a blow-by-blow account of the monumental event.
In the markets, the rand continued to track weaker after breaching the R14.85 technical level amid a stronger dollar. “Softer commodity prices have also put some pressure on emerging market currencies, and the rand has weakened further this morning, trading at R14.86 in the Far East. A sustained break above the R14.85/R14.90 levels would open the way for further weakness to R15.00,” comments TreasuryONE.
Gold, platinum and palladium have continued to trade lower this morning, with the metals currently changing hands at $1,788, $1,030 and $2,016 respectively. Oil prices too have slipped off their best levels after a jump in US stockpiles, with Brent crude and WTI quoted at $85.95 and $84.08 respectively.
Here’s a roundup of the world’s top and most interesting headlines:
SA Business
Gauteng splurges billions on dubious security contracts at provincial health facilities – Daily Maverick
First hybrid Toyota car produced in South Africa – MyBroadband
One of South Africa’s biggest companies is making plans to move away from Eskom’s grid and load shedding – BusinessTech
Global Business
Democrats unveil a corporate minimum tax, eyeing $400 billion – BLoomberg
Thailand reopens: what you need to know – AFP
Elon Musk fires back at Democrats’ billionaire tax plan that could slap him with a $10 billion annual bill – Business Insider
Tech
Microsoft’s cloud-computing strength fuels revenue, profit – Bloomberg
Google growth overshadowed by slower YouTube and cloud results – Bloomberg
YouTube, TikTok, Snap seek to distance themselves from Facebook – Bloomberg
Markets
Hong Kong leads Asia lower as US ban on China Telecom fans tensions – AFP
Oil dips after buildup in oil inventories – Investing.com
Gold down, as consumer confidence rises – Investing.com
Opinion/In-depth
UN report shows planet heading for a 2.7°C global temperature increase by end of century – Daily Maverick
New brooms and power – Eskom’s painful plan – Biznews
Analysis: Doomed to fail? How carmakers’ climate vows fall short – and who’s to blame – Reuters
Video
Tesla, bitcoin are signs of a ‘bubble’ – investor – Reuters
Facebook will fuel more unrest, whistle-blower tells UK lawmakers – Al Jazeera
Alcohol industry buzzing with concern over supply shortage – Newsy
Download the news aggregator app SAccess, available on Google Play and the App Store, to stay on top of business and market news from around the world.
