Big businesses and government made promises last week about rescuing Johannesburg, but the gap between announcements and action remains wide. There is still no clear project list, no published deadlines and no hard numbers attached to delivery, which means the city’s turnaround is still more promise than plan. Business and government need to sit down, agree on the priorities and turn the talk into a real programme with costs, timelines and accountability.
The rand is said to be at its strongest level since the Iran war began, while Tharisa is accelerating its shift away from Eskom as part of its mining energy transition. In agriculture, South Africa and Zimbabwe have agreed to closer cooperation in farming and agro-processing, even as the sector shed 15,000 jobs in the second quarter and Cape Town port is being readied for deciduous fruit exports.
On the JSE, last week’s main winners were AngloGold Ashanti, up 9.71% to R602.08; Sibanye Stillwater, up 6.89% to R64.58; and Naspers, up 3.83% to R5,033.24. The pattern still favours gold and selected large caps.
Before you go
The National Arts and Culture Awards are in Awards Week, Contra.Joburg is running its visual arts festival under the theme “Different is good,” and the 2026 Content Creator Awards are on the calendar with Mpho Popps hosting and Samsung Galaxy as headline sponsor. In fashion, David Tlale won Outstanding Fashion and Textile Designer at NACA, while adidas Originals has launched the Pharrell “VIRGINIA Adistar Jellyfish” at R6,499 in South Africa.
Food manufacturing remains under pressure, with Premier Foods’ proposed Tulbagh plant closure threatening almost half of South Africa’s fruit canning capacity and the next Section 189 consultation set for 26 August. Meanwhile, SACCI business confidence rose to 125.4 in July, a Madagascar-South Africa Chamber of Commerce is being established, and the Durban Chamber has launched the Durban Shipping Chamber.
For a lighter note, the most whimsically unusual event this week is The Queen’s Court, a bookish wonderland taking place at Très Jolie in Muldersdrift on Saturday, 29 August at 13:00, where book lovers dress in fantasy costumes for an Alice-in-Wonderland-style literary gathering. Tickets are available on Quicket.
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