The week ahead: Youth Day, US-Africa business and more

Mark off your calendar. Here’s a roundup of the political and economic news you should watch out for this week.

Politics

Youth Day

The country commemorates the 49^th anniversary of the 1976 Soweto uprisings today. The official national government event will take place at the North-West University Rag Farm Stadium in Potchefstroom, where Deputy President Paul Mashatile will deliver the keynote address on behalf of President Cyril Ramaphosa. The official theme of the government’s designated youth month this year is “Skills for the Changing World – Empowering Youth for Meaningful Economic Participation”.

Parliament

Parliament’s portfolio committees will be hard at work this week, with a number of briefings about government departments’ annual performance plans and budget allocations. On Wednesday, the standing committee on public accounts will receive a briefing by the National Prosecuting Authority and the Directorate for Priority Crime Investigation (the Hawks) on “corruption cases referred by the Special Investigating Unit, involving government departments, public entities, municipalities, and other high-profile cases”.

By-elections

On Wednesday, the ANC will defend ward 6 in Thaba Chweu municipality in Mpumalanga. In the 2021 local government election, the party won a comfortable 78.8% of the vote, with the EFF coming in a distant second at 16.7%. In last year’s provincial election, the ANC won 63.8% in the ward, with MK getting second place with 13.2% and the EFF 11.9%. This week’s by-elections follow two by-elections in Thembisile Hani in Mpumalanga last week, where the ANC comfortably won, but MK grew and leapfrogged the EFF.

Economics

US-Africa Business Summit

Angola hosts the 17^th US-Africa Business Summit, which kicks off in Luanda on Sunday June 22. Given the looming renewal date of September for the African Growth and Opportunity Act, it will be important to see what signals emanate from the summit. Numerous Southern African Development Community presidents, including Zambia’s Hakainde Hichilema, Namibia’s Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah, Botswana’s Duma Boko and Angola’s João Lourenço will be in attendance.

Inflation rate

May’s month-on-month and year-on-year inflation figures will be released on Wednesday. South Africa’s annual rate edged up to 2.8% in April from 2.7% in March, which was the lowest level since June 2020. The inflation rate has hovered at about 3%, the lower band of the Reserve Bank’s target, for the past seven months.

Retail sales

April retail sales figures will also be released on Wednesday. Retail trade growth slowed in March driven by a slowdown across several sectors, including food, beverages, tobacco, general dealers, and textiles, clothing, footwear and leather goods, as well as household furniture, appliances and equipment.

This article was originally published by The South Africa Brief, a political newsletter published on Substack which is a collaboration between Paul Berkowitz and Jonathan Moakes. It provides analysis and insight into the new, uncertain era of South African politics heralded by the 2024 general election. Including a specific focus on municipal politics, it will provide full analysis in the run-up to next year’s municipal polls.