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Cabinet announced on Thursday that Phase 2 of the country’s Covid-19 vaccination programme will roll out on Monday, May 17, running simultaneously with the vaccination of health care workers.

The vaccination of health care workers, with the Johnson &Johnson (J&J) vaccine, was put on hold following reports of blood clots.

South Africa has resumed the vaccination programme and Cabinet revealed that health care workers will be vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine until further notice.

To date 434 980 healthcare workers have been vaccinated under the Sisonke protocol, which will end on Friday.

Phase 2 of the country’s vaccine programme targets people aged 60 and above and Cabinet has urged qualifying South Africans to register on the Covid-19 Electronic Vaccination Data System.

INDIA

Cabinet said it supported the decision to donate ventilators to India as part of South Africa’s belief that the fight against Covid-19 across the globe requires collective efforts.

“Cabinet is also aware of the concerns amongst South Africans about the Covid-19 situation in India, and wishes to assure South Africans that the Department of Health and our scientists continue to monitor developments in that country and that necessary and appropriate precautions and protocols are implemented to protect South Africans,” it said in a statement.

TRIPS WAIVER

The Cabinet also welcomed US support for the waiver of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS), saying it will allow for wider manufacturing of Covid-19 vaccines.

South Africa and India have been leading the waiver initiative at the World Trade Organization.

“Poor access to Covid-19 vaccines has prevented the majority of developing countries, in particular within the African continent, from making significant progress in the fight against Covid-19. Cabinet’s view is that preventing nations from developing their own vaccines in the face of high mortality rates as a result of the coronavirus is morally indefensible,” it said.

Cabinet has also welcomed the R3-billion commitment by South African-born American biotechnology entrepreneur Dr Patrick Soon-Shiong to transfer the latest technology for producing vaccines and biological therapies to South Africa.

Cabinet reminded all South African to continue adhering to non-pharmaceutical health protocols to prevent the spread of Covid-19.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) urged the United Nations (UN), on Wednesday, to put extensive pressure on the Israeli regime to abandon its apartheid policy on Palestine.

This follows the escalating violence between Gaza and Israel, in which 43 people have died, as Israel continues with plans to evict Palestinians from the East Jerusalem neighbourhood of Sheikh Jarrah.

Israeli forces also attacked worshippers outside a mosque.

In a statement, the SACP has said that the apartheid policy, declared a crime against humanity by the UN, adopted towards Palestine involved measures being undertaken by Israeli regime that appear to be even worse than those that were imposed in South Africa.

“Every day, Israel demonstrates its intentions to destroy the lives of the Palestinian people and have absolute control over Palestinian land in its pursuit of its colonialist and imperialist agenda, backed by the US government,“ the SACP said.

It added that successive Israeli apartheid regimes have relentlessly violated all international agreements on the resolution of the crisis and that Israel is intensifying the illegal construction of Israeli settlements on Palestinian land.

The SACP called on world leaders to isolate Israel.

“The SACP stands in unconditional solidarity with the people of Palestine in their resilient fight against the Israeli apartheid regime. We support all efforts across the world aimed at the strengthening of international solidarity, as well as democratic and peaceful activities in support of the oppressed Palestinian people,” the party said.

Investors are celebrating the suspension of one of the main party rivals of South African President Cyril Ramaphosa as a sign that he is finally tightening his grip on the governing African National Congress (ANC).

But they say Ramaphosa must move far more quickly on reforms before they can turn bullish on the growth prospects of Africa's most industrialised economy.

Ramaphosa has slowly consolidated control over the divided ANC after narrowly winning a leadership contest in December 2017 that also saw enemies elected to powerful party posts.

He only felt confident enough last week to move against Secretary General Ace Magashule , who has been charged with corruption, after his allies in the ANC's national executive pushed through tougher rules for members charged with serious crimes.

"It shows an element of steel that has been missing," Adrian Saville , a longtime fund manager and economics professor at GIBS business school in Johannesburg, told Reuters.

Magashule denies the corruption allegations and has called the charges he faces flimsy.

But his suspension clears a major obstacle to Ramaphosa's bid for re-election as party leader next year. The secretary general oversees the day-to-day running of the ANC and plays a central role in conferences where party posts are won and lost.

Nolan Wapenaar , Anchor Capital's co-chief investment officer in Cape Town, said sidelining Magashule could cut the number of "nerve-racking headlines" that sap confidence in South Africa.

The rand has rallied and local bond yields edged lower since Magashule's suspension, although other factors have also contributed, including the National Treasury cutting debt issuance.

HURDLES REMAIN

Ramaphosa is not out of the woods yet.

The ANC is riven by factions that are in constant flux, including one that still remains loyal to Ramaphosa's scandal-plagued predecessor Jacob Zuma .

The Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated the weak state of public finances and longstanding problems such as unemployment.

Many investors feel Ramaphosa has not delivered on promises to clear policy blockages in sectors such as energy, where red tape still prevents big companies from generating their own power despite state utility Eskom regularly implementing outages.

"The direction of travel is the right one, but the speed has been slow," said Pavel Mamai , partner and portfolio manager at London-based ProMeritum Investment Management.

Wapenaar said South Africa still faced a "policy quagmire", noting that miners were not opening new mines despite a commodity boom.

Changes to visa rules affecting skilled migration and the release of radio frequency spectrum for telecoms firms are two other areas where the president had not met expectations, said Peter Attard Montalto , head of research at Intellidex who tracks reforms under Ramaphosa.

"Magashule's suspension is an important step, but it does not shift the dial on reform," he said. "Factional politics is not blocking policy."

The rate of vaccine hesitancy is low in South Africa, with 71% of people willing to take the Covid-19 jab.

The recent National Income Dynamics Study (NIDS)–Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (CRAM) Wave 4 study has found that over 71% of South Africans would take the Covid-19 vaccine, if it were available. Mass vaccination for Covid-19 is only expected to start in the country on 17 May.

Researchers collected the NIDS-CRAM Wave 4 data between 2 February and 10 March 2021. There were 5 629 successful Wave 4 interviews.

According to the research, local vaccine acceptance is higher than recent estimates from the United States and France, but lower than China, Brazil and the United Kingdom compared to other countries.

"The youth and those with only a primary school education were more likely to be vaccine hesitant," the research found.

People over 60 and those who have chronic conditions like HIV/Aids, TB, lung conditions, heart conditions or diabetes were less likely to be vaccine hesitant.

"Worryingly, those that are obese or experience hypertension were not more likely to accept a vaccine," the researchers said.

Young people, aged between 18-25, were much more likely to be vaccine hesitant than older adults.

"Specifically, just 63% of youth are willing to take a Covid-19 vaccine, as opposed to 72%–73% of individuals aged 35–59 years and those older than 60 years. Those most at risk of Covid-19 (those with chronic conditions and the elderly) were more willing than the general population to accept a vaccine."

Some of the reasons that participants gave for their vaccine hesitancy included not believing that it was effective, worrying about the side effects, or not trusting vaccines in general.

"Only 8% of those exhibiting vaccine hesitancy attributed their hesitancy to a low perceived risk of getting Covid-19. People who trust social media as an information source were significantly more likely to exhibit vaccine hesitancy."

When it comes to home language, the most vaccine hesitant people are Afrikaans speakers.

Forty-two percent of Afrikaans home language speakers are more likely to be vaccine-hesitant. This is much higher than the national average of 29% and significantly higher than seven of the 11 language groups.

The researchers found the lowest hesitancy rate among Tshivenda (18%), isiNdebele (19%) and isiXhosa, isiZulu and Sepedi respondents (all 25%).

One of the most devastating “unintended consequences” resulting from the response to the Covid-19 pandemic in South Africa is the spread of hunger.

The first wave of the National Income Dynamics Study – Coronavirus Rapid Mobile Survey (NIDS-CRAM) provided strong evidence of drastic increases in household and child hunger during the initial period of the pandemic, as well as an increase in household food insecurity.

“Much of the improvement since 2000 in household and child hunger that was owing to the expansion of the Child Support Grant was almost entirely reversed by the hard lockdown and the coronavirus pandemic,” said University of Cape Town School of Economics Associate Professor Dr Reza Daniels .

Overall, the proportion of households who reported running out of money for food went from 47% in wave 1 to 38% in wave 2 – a significant decrease. In wave 3, however, the proportion rose again to 41%.

United Nations University World Institute for Development Economics Research (UNU-WIDER) research assistant Grace Bridgman said the second wave of the NIDS-CRAM showed improvement, although hunger and food insecurity remained disturbingly high.

Bridgman added that wave 3, surveyed in November and December, provided an update to the widely reported and sobering findings from the first two waves, which showed that indicators of hunger and food insecurity had again worsened after the improvement in wave 2.

HUNGER AND GRANT TARGETING

Daniels explained that this was as a result of the phasing out of the top-ups to some social grants since November, adding that the magnitude of the food insecurity problem was still such that the need for social relief efforts remained undiminished. She warned that the reduction and phasing out of some of the social grants would have severe consequences in terms of hunger.

Bridgman warned that the increase between waves 2 and 3 was not statistically significant, but indicated a worrying trend, adding that there was a similar pattern at play in household hunger between waves 1, 2 and 3.

There was a significant decline from 23% to 16% between waves 1 and 2, and an insignificant increase in household hunger from 16% to 18% between waves 2 and 3.

Meanwhile, in terms of child hunger, the proportion of households with children who reported a child going hungry at least once in the past week saw a significant decline from 15% to 12% between waves 1 and 2. However, this statistic rose again to 16% in wave 3 – a statistically significant increase and an alarming discovery.

Initially, government support measures implemented to combat the effects of the pandemic were planned to end in October 2020, but the severe conditions on the ground led to the extension of the Covid-19 Social Relief of Distress Grant to the end of January 2021.

Daniels explained that the top-up of all the other social grants was ended in October, when grant values reverted to their pre-Covid-19 levels.

“TERS applications were extended by one month until mid-October 2020. The increased levels of hunger in the wave 3 data could, in part, have been owing to the phasing out of this government support,” he said.

Together, the reach of the social grant system is now exceedingly large. More than two out of every three respondents in all three waves of the NIDS-CRAM survey indicated that someone in their households benefited from at least one grant.

The reduction in grant values for the Child Support Grant and elimination of the top-up reduced the safety net for a large proportion of the poor. Therefore, the survey concluded that it was not a complete surprise that access to money for food and hunger increased again in wave 3.

The South African Communist Party (SACP) has welcomed the African National Congress (ANC) National Executive Committee’s (NEC’s) decision to ask party members charged with corruption or other serious crimes to voluntarily step aside from their duties, or face suspension.

The SACP affirmed its support for the ANC’s decision and said it would take the same action against its members.

“The steps taken by the ANC will contribute by no small measure, will show leadership by example, to the national imperative to fight corruption. This will dissuade those who may be tempted against getting involved or complicit in corruption,” the SACP said.

It also urged all members to rally behind the ANC in its fight against corruption and cemented its support for the Zondo Commission of Inquiry into State Capture.

“We reiterate our stance in support of the Commission of Inquiry into State Capture, and against weaponisation of corruption allegations. The tendency involves fabricating corruption allegations and spreading misinformation in pursuit of a false fight against corruption. To emerge victorious in our genuine organisational, Alliance and national imperative to end corruption, we must build wider patriotic unity against such tendencies, while encouraging real corruption to be reported, with evidence, to relevant law enforcement authorities,” the SACP said.

African National Congress (ANC) deputy secretary-general (SG) Jessie Duarte told media on Tuesday that she was not acting as the party’s secretary general, following the suspension of Ace Magashule but rather, she was carrying out the functions as prescribed by the ANC during his suspension.

Magashule was suspended for refusing to abide by the party’s step-aside policy, which requires members facing charges of corruption to step-aside from their roles.

Duarte said his suspension will be reviewed from time to time and is entirely dependent on the outcome of his court case, in which he has been charged for fraud, corruption and money laundering.

She stressed that the suspension was not to target Magashule but rather that it was exercising an ANC constitutional obligation.

Magashule has also been asked to apologise for writing a letter seeking the suspension of ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa or he faces disciplinary action from the ANC.

Duarte said the party was confident that the suspended secretary-general will rise to the occasion and follow the dictates of the ANC constitution.

“The NEC [National Executive Committee] decision is that the SG should apologise to the ANC community and to South Africans. This letter that suspends a sitting president in the manner that it was done could have had many repercussions,” she said and revealed that the ANC had received calls from other countries to verify the letter.

Duarte said there is a need for retraction. When asked for the time frame in which Magashule was expected to apologise, Duarte said following Ramaphosa’s address on Monday, the expectation was that it would be within 48 hours.

However, she stressed that the NEC meeting did not yield a time frame.

“We hope within this week we would see the SG apologise and we encourage him to do so,” Duarte said.

She reiterated that the NEC is committed to rebuilding the party despite current challenges.

Meanwhile, suspended ANC members will be allowed remuneration as per the guidelines of the Labour Relations Act and their suspension will be reviewed after six months.

Duarte said Parliament will provide guidance on full pay for those serving in Parliament.

"Those who step aside voluntarily – if branches nominate any of these people who have been asked to step aside the branch should have to be advised that the person does face a criminal charge. If they insist they want to go ahead with the nomination and they elect the person, that person will have to step aside again. It is a difficult one but it is a right of a person and you have to respect the rights of a person,” Duarte stated.

She advised that anyone voluntarily joining the ANC will be required to take an oath and agree to abide by the ANC constitution.

Eastern Cape Premier Oscar Mabuyane has slammed embattled African National Congress (ANC) secretary-general Ace Magashule amid claims that money stolen from municipalities were allegedly deposited into his bank account.

Mabuyane denied any wrongdoing, saying he did not receive any money from businessman Lonwabo Bam and the claims made against him were cleared up by the party's integrity committee.

"As stated before when the allegations were made in 2019, Mr. Mabuyane wishes again to state unequivocally that the claims are not true and that he never received money from Mr. Bam, nor he has ever received money that was stolen from municipalities as claimed by Mr Magashule in an interview with the SABC," Mabuyane's office said in a statement.

In an interview on Friday with the SABC, Magashule revealed he had numerous meetings with some of the individuals, including Bam, who were allegedly behind the campaign to damage Mabuyane's reputation.

"Money got into the bank account by a guy called Bam. He has come to you guys. Into the account of into the Premier of Eastern Cape. This guy called Bam. This guy called Bam wrote to the Top 6 one letter to everyone of us and say I’ve opened a case with the Hawks. I’m not coming to you. These are the FNB deposit slips, here they are."

Magashule said some party members, who supported "a different faction", were being protected despite criminal claims levelled against them.

He told the broadcaster: "There were three municipalities which paid me, Bam. Without doing work and immediately they paid me, in fact minutes. I transferred this amount of money to the account of the Premier of Eastern Cape. And nothing happens because he's a friend to the leadership which is factional."

Meanwhile, Mabuyane said he would now look at taking the matter up internally within the ANC.

"The statement made by Mr Magashule that Mr Bam was running around Gauteng because he will be killed is very dangerous and reckless, especially when not substantiated or reported to the relevant authorities," said the premier's office.

The premier said it was also worrying that Magashule claimed to have his bank account details, which raised eyebrows as to how he obtained them.

"Mr Mabuyane regards the remarks made by Mr Magashule as a malicious defamation of his character and is considering legal action to deal with this matter.

"He further reaffirms his commitment to the struggle to root out corruption in the movement and in society, as well as the struggle to renew the people's national liberation movement," said Mabuyane's office.

News24 reached out to Bam for comment. His response will be added once received.

Business Leadership South Africa (BLSA), which is made up of some of South Africa's largest domestic and multinational companies, estimates that private firms would move to invest billions in new power generation capacity in the near term should the rules governing embedded or distributed plants be changed to support such projects.

CEO Busi Mavuso says BLSA believes that companies could invest some R150-billion in new plants, most of which would arise in the form of solar photovoltaic (PV) energy “which is currently the least-cost source”.

“That would create tens of thousands of jobs and support wider investment as companies regain confidence in energy security,” she argues in her latest newsletter.

A recently published ‘Solar PV Industry Jobs Report’, compiled by the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, states that, under a scenario linked to the Integrated Resource Plan 2019 (IRP 2019), the solar industry should create between 33 000 and 35 000 fulltime-equivalent (FTE) jobs between 2028 and 2030.

Should the current procurement gaps in the IRP 2019 be closed and the embedded-generation market unlocked, however, the report estimates that the industry could consistently create between 38 000 and 40 000 FTE jobs a year between 2028 and 2030, supporting between 11 000 and 13 000 yearly operations and maintenance jobs by 2030.

Mavuso argues that, by delivering the policy changes needed swiftly and with determination, South Africa has the potential to create an efficient and reliable energy supply sector.

“Our focus must be on the outcome we desire rather than the detail of who does it and how electricity is created. Competition focuses attention on what matters: the price and reliability of supply.”

She again lamented the decision of the Department of Mineral Resources and Energy to publish a draft amendment to Schedule 2 of the Electricity Regulation Act that raises the licence-exemption cap for embedded generation plants from 1 MW to 10 MW, instead of the 50 MW seen as supportive of facilitating higher levels of investment.

The amendment was published on April 23 along with notification of a 30-day comment period.

“A further step would be to allow, in line with the original 1998 policy position, for companies to be able to buy electricity from each other by wheeling through the grid,” Mavuso added.

“Companies may not have the expertise or capital to build their own 50 MW plant but would be willing to buy electricity from others who do.

“A willing buyer/willing seller approach like this would advance energy security, support investment and create jobs.

“This would be the private sector solving the crisis, and it could happen fast, at no cost to the government, if the right policy changes are made.”

President Cyril Ramaphosa has said that if the international community is truly committed to human rights and the values of equality and non-discrimination, vaccines should be viewed as a global public good.

Ramaphosa said in his weekly letter to the nation that vaccines should be made available to all, not just to the highest bidders.

South Africa and India have proposed a temporary waiver of certain aspects of Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) to give poorer countries wider access to technologies needed to produce vaccines and medicines.

Ramaphosa highlighted that currently, 55% of the existing vaccine manufacturing capacity is located in East Asia, 40% in Europe and North America, and less than 5% in Africa and South America. In the case of developing countries, much of this capacity is under-utilised.

“As a nation, we must stand united in our effort to manufacture Covid-19 vaccines to save lives and proceed with the national recovery. Our commitment to putting human lives first does not diminish our commitment to honour international trade agreements,” he said.

He reflected on South Africa at the height of the HIV/Aids pandemic and when members of the pharmaceutical industry had sued government for trying to enforce a law that allowed it to import and manufacture affordable generic antiretroviral medication.

The lawsuit, ‘Big Pharma vs Mandela’ was dropped in 2001 following massive opposition.

“Years later, the world is in the grip of another deadly pandemic in the form of Coronavirus. And once again, South Africa is waging a struggle that puts global solidarity to the test,” Ramaphosa said.

He warned that inoculating populations of richer countries while poorer countries waited in line, would be tantamount to vaccine apartheid.

Ramaphosa said this will set a devastating precedent.

However, he said South Africa is preparing to bolster global vaccine manufacturing for Covid-19 and other major diseases, adding that existing facilities need to be repurposed and new capacity built.

Ramaphosa explained that although South Africa had secured enough vaccine doses to reach ‘population immunity’, there will always be a need for vaccines, adding that the country hoped to rapidly scale up local production to ensure wider access to affordable and effective vaccines.

Last week the US gave its support to the waiver proposal and more than 100 other countries have also thrown their weight behind the idea.

“This is an unprecedented situation. It requires that all intellectual property, knowledge, technology and data related to Covid-19 health technologies be put at the disposal of all,” Ramaphosa stated.

Ramaphosa called on all South Africans to support this effort, and in particular civil society organisations that played a leading role during the HIV/Aids pandemic.