It may seem as if the ANC cannot figure out who and when it wants to give the SONA address, but there are rumblings of Zuma’s imminent exit underneath the initial face of current affairs. With SONA and today’s NEC postponed, and with Cyril Ramaphosa quite likely discussing the terms of Zuma’s departure, South Africans might finally be nearing the end of his Presidency.

The launch of the world’s most powerful rocket went off “as well as can be expected”. Its 27 engines launched Elon Musk’s red Tesla, a mannequin strapped inside, and the complete works of Isaac Asimov towards Mars. Both of the Falcon’s side boosters managed a near-perfect synchronised landing back on Earth, with the main booster missing its platform by just 100 metres. Musk called it “probably the most exciting thing I have seen literally ever”.

After getting jealous at the French Bastille Day parade, President Donald Trump wants his own display of military might. The idea has been widely panned as an expensive waste of money for a country that neither needs to display its prowess as a fighting force nor holds any historical tradition of it. One Democrat Senator and Vietnam veteran was quoted as saying: “I swore an oath — in the military and in the Senate — to preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States, not to mindlessly cater to the whims of Cadet Bone Spurs and clap when he demands I clap.”

Concerns over the “deceiving” nature of cryptocurrency markets has sparked a renewed interest by US lawmakers in enforcing stricter regulations. US Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Jay Clayton alleged that the proponents of the currency were not being entirely open about how their exchanges did not offer the same protections as the conventional stock market. The wild and unregulated nature of Bitcoin and friends, however, is precisely part of its allure.

Weather
BFN: min: 16° max 27°, rainy
CPT: min: 16° max: 27°,  sunny
DBN: min: 20° max: 26°, cloudy
JHB: min: 14° max: 25°, cloudy
KIM: min: 18° max: 31°, rainy
MHK: min: 19° max: 31°, rainy
NLP: min: 17° max: 30°, cloudy
PE: min: 18° max: 30°, cloudy
PMB: min: 27° max: 27°, cloudy
PTA: min: 18° max: 28°, rainy

Financial Data
Oil=$66.88
Gold=$1,328.40
Platinum=$989.47
R/$=11.98
R/€=14.85
R/£=16.73
BTC/$=7,228
JSE All Share=56,377.21
DJIA=24,241.13
FTSE 100=7,141.40