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The Office of the Public Protector, one of the entities mandated with what Public Protector Busisiwe Mkhwebane calls the "mammoth task of rooting out corruption", is facing another budget cut.

The budget cut will impact the quality and speed at which the entity resolves investigations.

For the 2020/21 financial year, R16.1-million was cut from the office's budget - and, in the 2021/22 financial year, it was reduced by R28.7-million.

Originally, R360.613-million was budgeted for 2021-2022. It will only get R331.884-million.

The year after that, it will receive R340.918-million, down R37-million from the earlier budget - and the year after that, R345.190-million, down R19-million from the original budget.

"We expect more cuts in the future," Mkhwebane warned the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services on Thursday.

The meeting started minutes after the National Assembly's question session with President Cyril Ramaphosa concluded.

"This administration has taken decisive steps to confront state capture and corruption," Ramaphosa said.

The Public Protector's office presented its strategic and operational focus areas for 2021-2022 to the committee.

Mkhwebane said there were two elephants in the room impacting on this – the Covid-19 pandemic and "the reality that our budget allocation continues on a downward trend since the previous year".

"Both challenges threatened to derail our rollout of the Public Protector Vision 2023, and we had to work around them in order to remain on course."

She said the budget cuts had primarily impacted their funds for compensating employees.

"The nature of the impact is such that our already inadequate capacity will be rendered further insufficient. This will, in turn, affect the quality of our output and the speed at which we resolve complaints," Mkhwebane said.

"Given the governance issues that the country faces, coupled with the fact that the PPSA is among a few institutions that are expressly mentioned in Chapter 14 of the National Development Plan (NDP), as having been entrusted with the mammoth task of rooting out corruption and related maladies across the public administration, this is an undesirable situation."

She noted that the NDP decrees that such institutions should be appropriately funded and capacitated.

"Our mandate is now more crucial than ever before. We have to expand our resources to focus on mending the administrative gaps that are a result of maladministration and more often lead to corruption. We are, therefore, an integral part of the fight against corruption."

She said they are aware of government's financial challenges and, subsequently, they had to find innovative ways of ensuring that they adjust to this environment.

"Accordingly, in respect of investigations, we have revised our performance targets. For instance, in 2019/2020, we sought to produce 56 investigation reports. Now we are aiming for 50.

"Previously, we aimed to finalise 100% of our early resolution, administrative justice and service delivery, and good governance and integrity investigations within the set turnaround times. Now the target is 80%.

"It is our hope that this approach will help us circumvent the grim realities of declining budgets and the effects of Covid-19, so that we maintain the effective implementation of our constitutional mandate."

Committee members were concerned about vacancies in the office.

Public Protector CEO Thandi Sibanyoni said they were unable to fill vacant posts because of the budget cuts.

Sibanyoni said they have a meeting with Treasury in the coming week, where they will discuss a new revenue model for the office or the prospect of getting additional funding.

Committee chairperson Bulelani Magwanishe said, in principle, the committee was opposed to budget cuts for Chapter 9 institutions.

"Our position is becoming more difficult due to the economic situation becoming more dire," he said, before encouraging the office to "think deeper" about innovative ways to cu...

President Cyril Ramaphosa made a commitment during a Ramadan event in Cape Town that the government would "finally resolve the District Six matter".

Ramaphosa also said his government was doing everything in its power to rid the country of corruption. Ramaphosa spoke at an iftar gathering in Cape Town, hosted by the Muslim Judicial Council (MJC).

Ramaphosa joined Muslim worshippers as they broke their fast on Thursday at the Islamia College in Lansdowne.

"We are doing everything we can to end corruption. State capture will come to an end. Many steps are being taken to rid the country of corruption, and we will end it."

He said government was already taking steps against those implicated in corruption.

MJC president, Sheikh Irafaan Abrahams , called on government to make the restitution of land to claimants from District Six a top priority.

Addressing land dispossession, an issue that continues to pain former District Six residents, Ramaphosa gave his assurance that claimants would be returned home.

"We will finally resolve the District Six matter, and the people will go back to District Six," he added.

Ramaphosa arrived just after the Muslim community was scheduled to break their fast, after his answering session in Parliament ran late.

Arriving in his motorcade, the president was welcomed by senior MJC members.

Nelson Mandela 's grandson Zwelivelile "Mandla" Mandela and his wife, Rabia , as well as Gift of the Givers founder Imtiaz Sooliman , were among those at the event.

Ramaphosa said he felt deeply enriched – spiritually and mentally – by his engagement with members of the Muslim community.

"The Muslim community in South Africa is known for their contribution to community upliftment, to helping the poor, and for working to overcome poverty, inequality, and under-development," he said.

A group of ANC activists, known as the Strategic Dialogue Group (SDG), on Friday gave its support to the recent decision taken by the African National Congress’s (ANC’s) National Working Committee (NWC) to suspend party members facing charges of corruption, including secretary-general Ace Magashule .

In an exclusive interview with Polity, SDG member Dr Billy Ramokgopa said Magashule failed dismally to lead by example and in the process severely dented the image of the ANC and South Africa.

Magashule was informed of his suspension by ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte on Monday.

Magashule has revealed that he will appeal his suspension and he has also sought to suspend ANC President Cyril Ramaphosa , which the SDG said was an “ill-judged and futile attempt”.

The SDG said in a statement on Friday those who appreciate the values and policies of the ANC could not object to the resolution.

“It is intended to promote good hygiene in the conduct of public affairs, safeguard the sanctity of public institutions and the imperative for accountability to the people of South Africa,” the SDG said.

Ramakgopa told Polity that it is public knowledge that Magashule is heavily implicated in corruption and looting during his ten-year tenure as the Premier of the Free State province.

“His corrupt dealings with the fugitives from justice, as represented by the Gupta family, is an ugly chapter in the history of South Africa. The current R250-million asbestos corruption case before the Mangaung Court has clearly placed him and his equally corrupt cronies right at the centre of a serious crime scene for him to be associated with a noble organisation such as the ANC,” Ramakgopa stated.

He said the ANC has values and principles that have accorded it respect and support, as well as the trust and confidence of the majority of South Africans, backed up by its ability to retain power since 1994.

Ramakgopa said for the ANC to retain its status as a revered leader of society, Magashule had to leave as he was an “undesirable element”.

“No self-respecting organisation can tolerate such a political delinquent and misfit. Similarly, all those bad elements, who are adversely implicated with the collapse of the Limpopo government, the looting of the VBS Bank, at the Zondo State Capture Commission, PIC and SARS Nugent Commissions must follow suit and take a hike,” he stressed.

The SDG urged ANC members to support party leadership and to turn down “counter-revolutionaries”.

“… it is high time that all leaders of the ANC, starting with the National Executive Committee, realised that factional battles exert a heavy toll on the Brand South Africa and the country’s ability to attract the necessary volumes of investment for development in the domestic and international markets,” the SDG said.

Results from the University of the Witwatersrand Novavax coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccine trial show 51% efficacy against the B.1.351 variant in a South African study with HIV negative participants.

A group in the trial, which included people who are HIV positive, showed 43% efficacy.

Novavax is a protein-based vaccine candidate engineered from the genetic sequence of the first strain of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes Covid-19 disease.

Professor of Vaccinology, co-author of the study, and the director of the Wits Vaccines & Infectious Diseases Analytics Research Unit Shabir Madhi led the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine trial in South Africa.

Publication of initial primary analysis showed cross-protection by the Novavax Covid-19 vaccine against the B.1.351 variant, making it the first published study to show protection against mild Covid-19 caused by the B.1.351 variant.

An updated analysis of the study indicated 100% protection against severe Covid-19 due to the B.1.351 variant.

“An efficacy of 50% is sufficient to meet the World Health Organization criteria for regulatory approval of the vaccine,” Madhi said.

The New England Journal of Medicine also published findings of the Phase 2b clinical trial conducted in South Africa on Wednesday.

Founder of Intercell USA, Inc. and president of research and development at Novavax Gregory M. Glenn says this data publication reinforces the encouraging safety profile and cross-protective effect across variants seen in studies of the vaccine to-date.

Former president Thabo Mbeki has slammed as "reactionary" suggestions by some parties, as well as from within the African National Congress (ANC), that national, provincial and local government elections be held on the same date.

Such a "synchronised" election would disregard the importance of the local government sphere, as provided for in the Constitution, and would undermine South Africa's constitutional democracy as a whole, Mbeki said in his May newsletter published by the Thabo Mbeki Foundation.

He wrote: "This would finally collapse the excellent and special vision for local government which the ANC had, and which in large measure the [constitutional assembly elected in 1994] had accepted."

The ANC's national executive committee said after its meeting in June 2020 that it supported an initiative by the party's officials and the national working committee "to engage in the development of proposals on a synchronised national, provincial and local government elections to enable better coordination and implementation of policies across spheres of government".

'The people shall govern'

Mbeki said the intention of the ANC leaders and members who worked on drawing up the Constitution - which he insisted was not an "elite document" as detractors claimed - was to give local government "a particular place within our system of government".

He said it was in this sphere of government that the ANC saw the fullest expression of the Freedom Charter's objective that "The People Shall Govern".

Mbeki said in his newsletter the ANC tried to involve as many of its members and supporters in the process of drawing up the Constitution.

"It therefore took the deliberate decision that the constitution-making should not be confined to its leadership, its elite, but would involve the millions immediately grouped within and around the movement," he wrote.

'Framework of rules'

He said the "naysayers", those like the Economic Freedom Fighters and some from within the ANC who have been pushing to overturn some constitutional provisions, have been supporting the "synchronisation" of the elections, but added: "It is a reactionary proposal!"

He wrote: "The argument that a constitutional democracy is a threat to democracy itself and a subversion of the will of the people makes no sense and is not supported by any evidence, both in our country and elsewhere in the world."

This argument, he said, "is not advanced because of a love for democracy and respect for the will of the people", but rather is "part of a counter-revolutionary offensive which aims first to overthrow the ANC as a governing party" and to install another power in its place that would "proceed to manage our country as it wishes, without the 'framework of rules' provided by our Constitution".

Mbeki continued by saying some of the "naysayers" wanted to form a task team to run the ANC and replace the current NEC, rebuild the ANC security structures, reschedule the local government elections, and expel all "foreign nationals" within 90 days.

This appears to be a reference to a group opposed to President Cyril Ramaphosa 's leadership calling themselves the ANC Cadres Forum convened by retired military intelligence chief, Mojo Motau .

The group was criticised by the military for inviting members of the South African National Defence Force to its meetings.

President Cyril Ramaphosa on Thursday welcomed news that the US will support a waiver on certain intellectual property-rights provisions covering coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines.

South Africa and India submitted a proposal for a Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) waiver in October last year.

During his tenure as African Union (AU) chairperson, Ramaphosa pushed for fair access to vaccines to fight the virus.

US Trade Representative Katherine Tai released a statement on Wednesday, announcing the Biden-Harris Administration’s support for waiving intellectual property protections for Covid-19 vaccines.

The temporary waiver will provide countries with the policy space necessary to collaborate in manufacturing, scaling up and supplying Covid-19 medical products which are currently in short supply.

The US will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Recourse to waivers is provided for in the WTO’s legal framework under exceptional circumstances such as the current global pandemic and forms part of the WTO legal toolbox.

The TRIPS waiver will boost supplies of vaccines in the shortest possible time and can stimulate unused manufacturing capacity across the world and speed up expansion of new production facilities.

Trade, Industry and Competition Minister Ebrahim Patel met with Tai in March to discuss the rationale for the waiver request.

Patel emphasised that South Africa sought strong partnerships with pharmaceutical companies on know-how and technology as well as further research and development on the African continent.

Minister of Health Dr Zweli Mkhize has coordinated efforts to gain access to vaccines and Minister of Science and Innovation Dr Blade Nzimande is working with local scientists and pharmaceutical firms to identify opportunities to use local know-how in the fight against the virus.

The waiver proposal is co-sponsored by 60 members of the WTO and supported by over 100 members of the WTO, 175 former heads of state and nobel laureates, with growing support from members of parliament, medical personnel and citizens across the world.

A University of Cape Town professor says if the intellectual property (IP) rights of vaccines are lifted, the African continent will still not be able to scale up the production of Covid-19 vaccines.

Countries and activists in the Global South have been asking pharmaceutical companies to waive IP rights on the Covid-19 vaccine for more equitable access.

On Tuesday, Kelly Chibale , a professor of organic chemistry and founder of the integrated drug discovery and development centre H3D, said IP was necessary because it was an enabler of innovation.

"First of all, when people talk about IP rights they are not just rights but also responsibility. If you file a patent on something, you have a responsibility to move that innovation. People need to have the know-how and means to move that innovation.

"Why is IP necessary? IP is actually an enabler. Something went into that innovation, someone paid cash [for it]. It really helps to create strong innovation systems. It provides incentives."

Chibale said even if the IPs were waived immediately, the African continent would still not have the capacity to manufacture the vaccines for a fast rollout.

"Even if the IP was waived, I guarantee to you that it would mean nothing. How are we going to do it? We don't have the facilities to do this at scale. We don't have the expertise, the knowledge, the infrastructure. People need to balance the IP issue with reality."

He added there were only about 10 African manufacturers that have the capability to produce vaccines. They are based in only five countries - Egypt, Morocco, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia - and mostly fill and package the vaccines.

"How can the whole continent have less than 10 countries that can manufacture vaccines for different diseases? We have to address that. The challenge is that as long as you are not doing your own manufacturing, access is going to be a challenge.

"If we can manufacture the vaccines in South Africa, it brings efficiency in terms of access."

Chibale said by manufacturing locally, governments were able to prioritise their citizens.

He gave an example of how India was able to stop the export of AstraZeneca and use the doses locally when cases in that country surged.

Chibale added another challenge would be how to scale up production using existing infrastructure and getting the funding to do so.

"It really is important that we remember that we already have infrastructure that has been used for decades to basically roll out vaccines. There's also a case for new ways of funding. How the Ebola crisis was handled has provided a blueprint of how we can come together."

He stressed as long as not all countries vaccinated their populations, the pandemic would not end.

"South Africa is not safe unless all the countries on the African continent are safe. The sooner the vaccine can get here before the virus gets ahead of us, the better. If we don't do this quick enough as a global community, it'll have serious consequences."

The Democratic Alliance’s (DA’s) Western Cape Provincial Executive Committee (PEC) will elect an interim provincial leader on May 29, following the resignation of Bonginkosi Madikizela .

He resigned last week amid the furore over his having faked qualifications on his CV.

In a statement issued on Wednesday, DA provincial chairperson Jaco Londt said nominations open on Wednesday and the elections will take place at the DA Western Cape's Provincial Council meeting on May 29.

According to the DA’s Federal and Provincial Constitutions, a provincial leader can only be elected at a Provincial Congress.

“We referred the matter to the party’s Federal Legal Commission who, after studying both the Federal and Provincial Constitutions, confirmed that our original understanding to proceed with the election of the Western Cape interim leader was correct,” said Londt.

The Health Ministry is urgently seeking advice on how to handle a rise in Covid-19 cases at South Africa's ports of entry.

"This increase in [the] detection of cases at the ports of entry is of deep concern to us as government, and we have been attending to this as a matter of urgency," Health Minister Zweli Mkhize said in a statement.

The Ministerial Advisory Committee is being consulted.

The government's efforts to seek advice come after 14 crew were quarantined on a bulk carrier cargo vessel from India at Durban Port as well as allegedly fraudulent Covid-19 declarations on a ship from Kenya.

The ministry is also expected to say how it will handle the emergence of a new variant of the coronavirus in India, which is causing jitters over international travel to South Africa.

During the hard lockdown last year, international travel was suspended to stem the spread of the virus.

With South Africa's relatively low vaccination rates, there is rising concern over how the new variant will affect a possible "third wave" of infections.

According to the ministry, by Tuesday night, South Africa had recorded 1 187 new cases and 59 deaths.

Commenting on the alleged false declarations on the ship from Mombasa, Kenya, the health department said the matter was handed over to the police.

The ship was granted permission to berth in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), based on a report from the shipmaster that there were no reported illnesses on board.

However, the shipmaster later reported that an ill crew member was immediately transferred off the ship to a healthcare facility.

The ill crew member and three other crew were due to fly home and underwent polymer chain reaction tests on 26 April, which showed they had Covid-19.

Through tracing and further testing, another 10 crew members were found to have Covid-19 and were isolated.

Their 10 other colleagues are quarantined on the ship.

"It is deeply unfortunate that the master of the vessel is found to have made a false declaration regarding the health status of the vessel and crew," Mkhize said.

The department said that ship was neither bound for India, nor had it come from that country.

South Africa has allocated an extra R4-billion to buy Covid-19 vaccines and extend a special distress grant to thousands of people hit by the pandemic, in a Special Appropriation Bill tabled by the finance minister on Tuesday.

The bill, expected to be debated with the National Treasury in a parliamentary committee meeting later on Tuesday, allocates an additional R1.25-billion to the department of health to purchase Covid-19 vaccines and another R2.82-billion to social development for the distress grant of R350 per person.

South Africa - the worst-hit country on the continent in terms of reported coronavirus infections and deaths - has struggled to kickstart a mass vaccination programme, inoculating just over 329 000 health workers with Johnson & Johnson's shot as part of a research study, while it waits for its first batch of commercial doses to become available.

It has ordered 31-million doses of J&J's one-shot vaccine and 30-million doses of Pfizer's two-shot vaccine, enough for a combined 46-million of its 60-million people.

On Sunday it received its first weekly batch of Pfizer vaccine, with the US pharmaceutical giant expected to ship 4.5-million doses by June.

The Special Appropriation Bill also made adjustments to funding for struggling state airline, South African Airways (SAA), which last week exited a local form of bankruptcy protection called business rescue after roughly 17 months.

South Africa's government had previously pledged R10.5-billion to SAA as part of a turnaround strategy, but R2.7-billion rand had not been handed over as yet.

The adjustment makes allowance for SAA's units, such as low-cost airline Mango and its technical division, to also get financing, with R819-million earmarked for Mango and just over R1.6-billion for SAA Technical.

"Despite the effective date of this Act, the appropriation for the subsidiaries ... must be regarded as an appropriation and expenditure for the 2020/21 financial year," read the Bill.