President Cyril Ramaphosa says he isn’t going anywhere
“You’re stuck with me.” Those were the words of Cyril Ramaphosa at an ANC briefing in Johannesburg as he has no intention of resigning from the presidency following his re-election as ANC president in December. Ramaphosa was considering resigning late last November amid a report, which found a prima facie case for the president to face impeachment over the Phala Phala farm robbery scandal. (Business Day, for subscribers)
Ramaphosa is not upset with ANC MPs who decided to adopt Phala Phala report
Ramaphosa says he has moved on and isn’t upset with the ANC MPs that voted for the adoption of the Phala Phala report in parliament. The president said he would be willing to subject himself to any processes of further investigation into Phala Phala. He added that the ANC did not discuss the matter at the recent national conference because state institutions are handling it. (News24)
Ramaphosa is concerned about recent assassination attempts
The president said he was concerned by the recent assassination attempts on outgoing Eskom CEO André de Ruyter and of Fort Hare vice-chancellor Prof Sakhela Buhlungu. Ramaphosa said it was concerning that people who have taken strong positions on issues of integrity and corruption were being targeted. (Times LIVE)
Ten more years of power cuts lie ahead for South Africa
Given the available data, it would not be amiss to predict a scenario in which South Africa suffers from load-shedding for another decade says Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) senior energy researcher Monique le Roux. Le Roux concluded that given it would take at least ten years to execute the essential upgrades to Eskom’s infrastructure problems, power cuts would persist over that period. (MyBroadband)
What’s happening in the markets?
In what may be new year optimism from investors, the JSE All Share Index and the JSE Top 40 Index closed at record highs on Monday in a reflection of easing economic concerns and looser Covid restrictions in China. The rand also extended the previous session’s gains on Monday. The JSE Top 40 Index closed at 72,223 points, up 2% on Friday’s close and beating the previous record set in March last year of 71,058 points. The All Share Index closed at 78,343 points, surpassing its previous record of 77,536 points in March last year. At 6.02 am, the rand was trading at R16.94 against the dollar.
