Happy Thursday everyone, let’s get into it.
Thursday, 21 May 2026
Inflation kills our hopes of an interest rate cut
The latest CPI numbers came in right at the top of the Reserve Bank’s target band, and that basically means any chance of a rate cut in the near future is gone. For anyone sitting with a bond or a car payment, this is genuinely rough news, especially heading into winter when the electricity bill alone is enough to make you reconsider life choices. I was quietly hoping we’d see some relief before year end, but the numbers just aren’t cooperating.
Home Affairs is finally expanding Smart ID and passport services at bank branches
Here’s something rare, actual good news from a government department. Home Affairs is pushing to bring Smart ID and passport applications to more bank branches around the country, which means you might not have to take a whole day off work just to deal with those queues anymore. Anyone who’s sat in a Home Affairs waiting room knows exactly how much of an improvement this could be, as long as they roll it out properly and don’t let it fizzle.
A high-income Free State municipality is technically insolvent
The Auditor-General has flagged that the municipality covering the second-largest city in the Free State is technically insolvent, and here’s the kicker, the average resident there earns around R319,600 a year. So there’s real money flowing through that local economy, but the municipality still can’t keep its books in order. It’s the same tired story we keep seeing across SA, revenue exists, management fails, and ordinary ratepayers end up worse off.
R18 billion private city breaks ground on university land
Construction has kicked off on the first phase of a massive R18 billion privately-owned smart city, built on land bought from one of South Africa’s top universities. A privately-governed city is a fascinating concept, but it also makes me a bit uneasy. Are we just building another high-end enclave for people who can afford to opt out of broken public infrastructure, or is this model genuinely going to do something different for the broader community around it?
The private city story is what’s got me thinking most this morning. Would you actually want to live in a privately-run city if the lights stayed on and the roads got fixed, or does something about that concept bother you on principle? Drop your thoughts below, keen to hear where people land on this one.
Enjoy your Thursday, see you in the comments.
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