Claim:<\/strong> \u201cWe are proud of our Top 10 ranking in the World Economic Forum competitiveness report with respect to financial services<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n Our verdict:<\/strong> Yes but…<\/p> South Africa was\u00a0ranked 6th out of 144 countries<\/a>\u00a0for the \u201cavailability of financial services\u201d in the World Economic Forum\u2019s (WEF)\u00a02015\/16 Global Competitiveness Report<\/a>.<\/p>\n However, the ranking is not based on objective data or research. Rather, it is the result of an opinion survey of unnamed South African business leaders.<\/p> As part of their\u00a0\u201cExecutive Opinion <\/a>Survey<\/a>\u201d<\/a>\u00a0the WEF asked 58 respondents in 2014 and 50 respondents in 2015 the question: \u201cTo what extent does the financial sector [in South Africa] provide a wide range of financial products and services to businesses?\u201d<\/p>\n The business people had to answer on a scale of 1 to 7, where 1 represented \u201cnot at all\u201d and 7 \u201cprovides a wide variety\u201d. Their combined answers produced a score of 6.1, which put South Africa in 6th place, behind Switzerland, Luxembourg, Hong Kong, United States and Canada.<\/p>\n A further flaw is that the WEF uses a national score to create an international ranking. Respondents may rank their countries differently if they were asked to compare South Africa\u2019s availability of financial services to other countries.<\/p>\n Claim<\/strong>:\u00a0\u201cThere has been no load-shedding since August last year<\/em>.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n Our verdict<\/strong>: Incorrect<\/p>\n South Africa\u2019s electricity supplier Eskom\u00a0tweeted on 20 January:<\/p>\n Eskom has not load shed in 165 days; except 2hrs 20mins on Sept 14, 2015. Our employees remain committed to deliver on Eskom\u2019s mandate.<\/p>\n — Eskom Hld SOC Ltd (@Eskom_SA) January 21, 2016<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nELECTRICITY<\/h2>\n
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