February 15, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Lynne Davies.

Making headlines:

Two South African soldiers killed, 3 wounded on Congo mission

Outa says up to 12% of Gauteng motorists still paying their e-toll bills

And, Kenyan central bank buys dollars to curb volatility as shilling rallies

Two South African soldiers killed, 3 wounded on Congo mission

The South African military said today that two of its soldiers were killed and three wounded by a mortar bomb that landed inside a military base in Democratic Republic of Congo, where its troops are helping to fight armed groups.

Government said earlier this week that it would send 2 900 troops as part of its contribution to a force deployed by southern African regional bloc SADC to help Congo address deteriorating security in its restive eastern region.

The South African National Defence Force said the mortar bomb landed inside one of the South African contingent's military bases on Wednesday.The injured were taken to the nearest hospital in Goma for medical attention.

An investigation into the incident will be conducted.

Outa says up to 12% of Gauteng motorists still paying their e-toll bills

Organisation Undoing Tax Abuse CEO Wayne Duvenhage has said that between 10% and 12% of road users in Gauteng are still paying for e-tolls, despite the October 2022 announcement by Finance Minister Enoch Godongwana that e-tolls would be scrapped.

Speaking at the South African Real Estate Investment Trust 2024 conference today Duvenhage said that, despite Godongwana’s announcement, government had still not formally ended e-tolls, allowing billing to continue for more than a year past its declared end date.

Ending the e-tolls requires the Transport Minister to declare the Gauteng Freeway Improvement Project roads to no longer be subject to tolls, which has not been done. As such, motorists continue to be billed.

Duvenhage said the majority of those who still pay their e-tolls bills are private companies, whom he called on to stop paying.

Kenyan central bank buys dollars to curb volatility as shilling rallies

Kenya's central bank bought dollars on the foreign exchange market today to curb volatility, traders said, as the shilling rocketed to its strongest level since June 2023.

The central bank says it only intervenes to smooth out volatility when the shilling is moving too fast in either direction and that it has no preferred level for the currency.

At one point the shilling was up almost 8% on the day, bid as strong as 139 to the US dollar, data showed, in a rally fuelled by foreign inflows into Kenyan domestic debt and the resolution of a $2-billion Eurobond maturing in June.

After the central bank intervened, the shilling gave back some gains to be bid at 141, still up more than 6% from Wednesday's close.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

Don’t forget to follow us on the X platform, at the handle @PolityZA