For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Madiba.

Making headlines: ANC support declines but likely to keep control nationally in 2024; Night loadshedding drops to Stage 5; And, SA makes some progress on exiting greylist

ANC support declines but likely to keep control nationally in 2024

The latest election polling data, conducted by Ipsos, shows the African National Congress's prospects ahead of the 2024 elections may not be as dismal as predicted.

The data places the ANC between 48% and 53% nationally at the 2024 elections.  

The ANC has, however, shown a considerable decline in support nationally over the past 10 years, with the Ipsos poll placing the party's support at 33% compared to 63% in 2015.

The polling data was conducted on behalf of the Inclusive Society Institute, and it showed that support for opposition political parties had increased from 21% to 48% over the 10 years.  

But, despite the ANC's sharp decline in support, the data shows the party may form a government, on its own or in a coalition, at a national level.  

Night loadshedding drops to Stage 5

Eskom announced a marginal drop in loadshedding today due to improved generation recovery and emergency reserves. 

Stage 3 loadshedding kicked in at 10am, and will continue until 4pm, when Stage 4 will resume. However, Stage 5 loadshedding will be implemented from 8pm until 5am on Friday, instead of the previous Stage 6. 

The utility is expected to provide further details later in the day. 

And, SA makes some progress on exiting greylist

South Africa has addressed most of the technical compliance deficiencies that led to it being greylisted by the Financial Action Task Force in February 2023, though much work still needs to be done to boost the effectiveness of legislation aimed at curbing money laundering and terror financing by improving the investigation and prosecution of such crimes.

That’s the word from National Treasury, which released a statement saying South Africa is now fully or largely compliant with 35 of 40 key recommendations made by the Paris-based to address previously identified deficiencies in its Anti-Money Laundering/Combating the Financing of Terrorism framework.

South Africa has addressed most of the technical compliance deficiencies within two years of the publication of its Mutual Evaluation Report, National Treasury said in its statement.

The South African authorities continue to address the remaining five deficiencies, with the expectation that they will be deemed to be addressed in the next follow-up report in October/November 2024.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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