ACCRA, Feb 9 (Reuters) &#8211; Ghana&#8217;s parliament has suspended most of its activities for three weeks after at least 17 MPs and 151 staff members were infected with the coronavirus, the speaker said on Tuesday.
President Nana Akufo-Addo warned last month that infection rates were skyrocketing and threatened to overwhelm Ghana&#8217;s health system, part of a second wave of the virus across Africa that has been far more serious than the first.
&#8220;Having regard to the upsurge in coronavirus cases in the House &#8230; I have, in consultation with leadership, decided that the sitting of the House be suspended for three weeks,&#8221; Speaker Alban Bagbin told parliament.
However, he said that parliament&#8217;s appointments committee would continue to meet to consider the ministerial nominees of Akufo-Addo, who was re-elected in December.
Ghana has reported 72,328 infections and 472 coronavirus-related deaths, some of the highest totals in West Africa. (Reporting by Christian Akorlie; Editing by Aaron Ross and Alex Richardson)
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Ghana parliament shuts down after COVID-19 outbreak

MBABANE, Feb 9 (Reuters) &#8211; eSwatini Health Minister Lizzie Nkosi said on Tuesday that her country, which borders South Africa, would no longer use AstraZeneca&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine.
South Africa has put on hold the rollout of AstraZeneca&#8217;s vaccine, after preliminary trial data showed it gave only minimal protection against mild-to-moderate infection caused by South Africa&#8217;s dominant coronavirus variant.
&#8220;The country has considered its close proximity with South Africa. We felt that the variant could be in the country already. We will no longer be using AstraZeneca Oxford vaccine,&#8221; Nkosi said in an interview on local television.

(Reporting by Lunga Masuku; Writing by Alexander Winning; Editing by Kevin Liffey)
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eSwatini won’t use AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, minister says

Why Products Sold On Instagram

Why Products Sold On Instagram, TikTok May Not Be What They Seem

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While the global economic projections for 2021 have been revised up, the International Monetary Fund has brought down projections for South Africa’s economic growth by 0.2 percentage points. This, as COVID-19 continues to expose the vulnerabilities of the South African economy. Max Alier, International Monetary Fund Resident Representative in South Africa joins CNBC Africa for more.

IMF’s 2021 outlook for the South African economy

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Globally, central banks are split on how to regulate digital assets. While some like the People&#8217;s Bank of China are carrying out pilot tests with commercial partners, some others like Nigeria are deeply concerned about the risks posed to its financial system. On Monday, electric vehicle maker, Tesla purchased 1.5 billion dollars&#8217; worth of bitcoin, a strong backing for the crypto on the corporate level. For the crypto community in Nigeria, how best can they navigate the regulatory waters? Joining CNBC Africa for this conversation are Senator Ihenyen, President of the Stakeholders in Blockchain Technology Association of Nigeria and Hanu Fejiro Agboje, CEO and Founder of Patricia.

How Nigeria’s crypto community can navigate the regulatory waters

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As Small Medium and Micro companies are seen as the key to South Africa’s economic recovery- the city of Cape Town has set up mechanisms to support such companies. White investment was subdued in 2020 due to COVID-19, it has been imperative to invest into start-ups. Joining CNBC Africa for this discussion are James Vos, MMC for Economic Opportunities in the City of Cape Town, Anton Baumann Executive Director of Empowerment Capital and Katlego Maphai Co-founder &#038; CEO of Yoco.

How can South Africa expand its start-up economy?

Feb 9 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s AngloGold Ashanti said on Tuesday it expected annual earnings to almost triple, boosted by a surge in gold prices during 2020 as investors rushed to buy the precious metal seen as a safe-haven asset in turbulent times.
The gold miner expects to report a headline earnings per share between 229 U.S. cents and 247 U.S. cents for the year ended Dec. 31, 2020, compared with 91 U.S. cents reported a year earlier, it said. (Reporting by Indranil Sarkar in Bengaluru; editing by Uttaresh.V)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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AngloGold Ashanti sees earnings to almost triple as gold prices surge

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa&#8217;s Nedbank denied any wrongdoing on Monday after three local news sites reported on its links to a scandal that led to large losses at public entities, sending the bank&#8217;s shares down almost 9%.
Investigative outlet amaBhungane, the Daily Maverick and News24 said Nedbank paid billions in rand in fees to a company called Regiments Capital for involving it in deals that lost money for municipalities and state-owned companies.
The article published by the three news sites said the commissions were often not disclosed to clients Regiments was supposed to be advising impartially and that Nedbank knew or should have known this, among other allegations.
In a statement responding to the article, Nedbank said there was nothing unlawful or unusual about its relationship with Regiments, although with hindsight it might have acted differently.
&#8220;Our internal and external reviews confirmed that Nedbank has at no time acted unlawfully in its dealings with Regiments and the affected counterparties,&#8221; Nedbank said.
An email to the address on Regiments&#8217; website seeking comment bounced back, while a call to the number on its website went to the voice mail of another firm. Reuters could not immediately reach any legal representatives for Regiments.
Nedbank shares closed down 8.87% versus a 1.9% decline for the South African banking index. (Reporting by Emma Rumney. Editing by Mark Potter)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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Nedbank denies complicity in S.Africa corruption, shares fall

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (Reuters) &#8211; The lead investigator on the South African trial of AstraZeneca&#8217;s vaccine said he believed the vaccine had a major role to play in Africa and globally, despite data showing it offered minimal protection against mild-to-moderate COVID-19 disease by the country&#8217;s dominant virus variant.
Shabir Madhi from the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg told Reuters he would begin rolling out the 1 million AstraZeneca doses already in the country immediately, since they have an expiry date in April and it would be reckless to waste them.
South African health officials said on Sunday that they were putting AstraZeneca vaccinations on hold temporarily while they sought scientific advice on how to proceed. Vaccinations had been due to start soon, after the first vaccine doses arrived by plane from India last week. (Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Alison Williams)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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AstraZeneca vaccine has major role to play, lead S.Africa investigator says

GENEVA, Feb 8 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa will roll out the AstraZeneca vaccine in a &#8220;stepped manner&#8221; to assess its effectiveness in preventing severe illness, Professor Salim Abdool Karim, the co-chair of South Africa’s Ministerial Advisory Committee on COVID-19, said on Monday.
Karim said South Africa would pause the rollout while determining how to roll it out, and could vaccinate 100,000 people with the shot to see how well it worked on preventing hospitalisations and deaths. (Reporting by John Revill, Stephanie Nebehay, Emma Farge and Peter Graff; Editing by Alison Williams)
(c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2021. Click For Restrictions &#8211; https://agency.reuters.com/en/copyright.html
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South Africa to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine in steps to assess effectiveness

* Surveys find 1/3 to 1/2 of South Africans don&#8217;t want shot
* Includes young nurses, affluent with social media access
* South Africa worst hit by COVID-19 on continent
By Tim Cocks
JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (Reuters) &#8211; As a nurse in a country battling deadly diseases, Rich Sicina sometimes vaccinates other South Africans, but he says there is no way he will take a COVID-19 shot &#8211; he doesn&#8217;t believe it will be safe or effective.
South Africa&#8217;s decision on Sunday to suspend plans to roll out AstraZeneca&#8217;s vaccine, after data showed it may not offer sufficient protection against the country&#8217;s dominant coronavirus variant, has only added to Sicina&#8217;s concerns.
&#8220;We do not trust these politicians,&#8221; he said.
Many South Africans agree. The Indaba nurses union, to which Sicina belongs, has advised its 17,000 members to boycott the vaccine.
Two polls, a global one by IPSOS and a national one by South African fintech start-up CompariSure, in January suggested that half of South Africans would refuse the vaccine. A University of Johannesburg (UJ) survey, with the biggest sample size of 10,000, put the number more optimistically at a third.
The stakes are high: COVID-19 has hit South Africa harder than anywhere else on the continent, infecting nearly 1.5 million and killing more than 46,000, while a more infectious variant that evolved here has spread around the world.
South Africa hopes to vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some herd immunity but has yet to administer a shot.

THE DEVIL&#8217;S JAB
Efforts to eradicate certain diseases have foundered before in Africa when a section of the population rejects vaccination &#8211; often driven by religious beliefs and mistrust of Western pharmaceutical companies.
In 2003, Muslim clerics instigated a boycott of polio shots in northern Nigeria. There have been similar appeals against COVID-19 shots.
Tanzanian President John Magufuli told citizens to avoid the vaccines &#8211; calling them a foreign plot &#8211; and protect themselves by praying while inhaling steam.
The governor of Nigeria&#8217;s Kogi state, Yahaya Bello, was filmed in January saying vaccine makers &#8220;want to &#8230; introduce the disease that will kill you, God forbid.&#8221;
In December, South Africa&#8217;s Chief Justice Mogoeng Mogoeng prayed that &#8220;any vaccine that is of the devil &#8230; may it be destroyed by fire&#8221;, in remarks he declined to recant despite fierce criticism.
Mogoeng had no further comment, his spokesman said.
Such concerns are not uncommon on a continent where sickness is often seen as resulting from supernatural forces &#8211; and where big pharmaceutical companies have run dubious clinical trials resulting in deaths.
Added to the mix are conspiracy theories available online, some of which from &#8220;anti-vaxxers&#8221; in wealthier countries.
South Africa&#8217;s Department of Health has run a publicity campaign to counter popular myths, including that Bill Gates, whose foundation helped fund the development of COVID-19 vaccines, put a microchip in them that he plans to use for world domination.
The UJ survey found that less-educated people were more willing to be vaccinated, and white South Africans, who tend to be wealthier and have access to better schools, were more hesitant than Blacks.
&#8220;People with &#8230; degree-level education are often the ones very interested in their smart phones, so they have greater access to conspiracy theories&#8221; than poorer folk who get information from radio and TV, survey co-author Kate Alexander said.

&#8220;DISTRUST OF GOVERNMENT&#8221;
Elsewhere in the world, trust in vaccines has improved since last year, with most happy to take them, and only 12% reporting no trust at all, according to a YouGov survey of 15 countries.
Influential figures, such as anti-apartheid icon Archbishop Desmond Tutu, say they will take the COVID-19 shot.
Yet trust in South Africa&#8217;s handling of the pandemic has deteriorated, over perceived failures such as a shortage of protective equipment for medical staff and allegations of corruption in government COVID-19 relief contracts.
&#8220;You see people lining up to steal money and &#8230; you&#8217;ve got a high level of distrust of government,&#8221; said William Bird, director of Media Monitoring Africa, which fights misinformation online.
A Department of Health spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment on criticism of its handling of the crisis. But officials have said that governments with better resources than South Africa have struggled to respond to the pandemic.
Social worker and &#8220;holistic medicine&#8221; healer Debasalam Bloom said she is wary of vaccines and will avoid the COVID-19 one.
&#8220;I don&#8217;t believe it&#8217;s been tested for long enough. So we don&#8217;t really know, long term, what the side effects are,&#8221; she said.
Some experts favour legal measures to force compliance.
&#8220;If you implement a coercive policy properly, it works regardless of whether or not there is trust in government,&#8221; Oxford bioethics expert Alberto Giubilini told Reuters. &#8220;We do that with taxes &#8230; and I don&#8217;t see why vaccines should be any different.&#8221;
He suggested lockdown restrictions on individuals who refuse the vaccine, barring them from public indoor places.
Aslam Dasoo, convener of Progressive Health Forum, an advocacy group, disagrees.
&#8220;To win this battle, you can&#8217;t do it at the expense of rights. Only the people in the end can stop the pandemic,&#8221; he said. (Editing by Giles Elgood)
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As vaccines arrive, South Africa faces widespread scepticism over safety

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A week ago – the JSE issued a censure against property company Rebosis and its sponsor Nedbank- for publishing unreviewed results. In the results, the directors had over valued the company’s portfolio by R900 million. Rebosis has since issued a statement- disagreeing with the JSE’S findings. The company says it remains committed to good corporate governance. Joining CNBC Africa for more is the Chairman of the King Committee on Corporate Governance in South Africa, Mervyn King.

Rebosis: Is JSE censure enough?

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The total capital imported into Nigeria declined by 59.6 per cent to $9.68 billion in 2020. This is the lowest level of capital importation in four years, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Meanwhile, the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development says Nigeria attracted $2.6 billion worth of investments in 2020, which was lower than the $3.3 billion recorded in 2019. Kyari Bukar, Former Chairman of the Nigerian Economic Summit Group joins CNBC Africa for more.

2021: What’s holding back FDI into Nigeria?

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Nigeria’s heightened insecurity has been a growing cause of concern leading to a change in its Service Chiefs earlier in the year. Going forward, how can Nigeria better tackle the insecurity within its shores? Onyekachi Adekoya, Managing Director of PR24 joins CNBC Africa for more.

Is Nigeria doing enough to tackle insecurity?

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The Central Bank of Nigeria says its recent directive to regulated financial institutions to desist from dealing in cryptocurrencies and identify people and organisations transacting in cryptocurrency exchanges and close their accounts.

Nigeria’s Central Bank reiterates position on closure of crypto accounts

JOHANNESBURG, Feb 8 (Reuters) &#8211; South Africa hopes to get some doses of Johnson &amp; Johnson&#8217;s COVID-19 vaccine around the end of this week, a senior health official said on Monday, after halting use of the AstraZeneca vaccine due to disappointing trial data.
Johnson &amp; Johnson&#8217;s (J&amp;J) vaccine was a good fit at this stage, health ministry Deputy Director-General Anban Pillay told state broadcaster SABC, but did not say how many doses the country would soon receive.
Previously, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said the country had secured 9 million J&amp;J doses that were due to start arriving in the second quarter.
The J&amp;J vaccine is not yet authorised for use in South Africa, although the U.S. company has initiated a &#8220;rolling submission&#8221; with local regulator SAHPRA.
Pillay said the J&amp;J vaccine had shown in trials to be highly effective in preventing hospitalisation and death, and said it was an advantage that it was a one-shot vaccine that could be stored at fridge temperatures.
&#8220;So we think it will be a good vaccine at this point in time for South Africa,&#8221; he said.
On Sunday, the government said it was temporarily halting a large-scale rollout of AstraZeneca&#8217;s vaccine to healthcare workers after preliminary data from a clinical trial found it gave &#8220;minimal protection&#8221; against mild-to-moderate infection caused by the dominant 501Y.V2 coronavirus variant in South Africa.
The trial did not assess the vaccine&#8217;s efficacy against severe infection, and its findings have not yet been peer-reviewed.
AstraZeneca, which developed the vaccine with Oxford University, says it believes its vaccine can protect against severe disease and has already started adapting it against the 501Y.V2 variant.
Asked whether the sample size of the AstraZeneca trial was large enough to draw conclusions from, Pillay said: &#8220;I don&#8217;t think we can be confident to say the vaccine doesn&#8217;t work, but we also don&#8217;t have the data to say it certainly will work. What we have are potential indicators.&#8221;
He said the government needed a &#8220;broader discussion&#8221; with local and global scientists to interpret the trial data and say what the best way forward would be.
South Africa &#8211; which has reported the highest number of confirmed coronavirus infections in Africa and over 46,000 coronavirus-related deaths &#8211; hopes to vaccinate 40 million people, or two-thirds of the population, to achieve some level of herd immunity. (Reporting by Alexander Winning; Editing by Olivia Kumwenda-Mtambo and Susan Fenton)
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South Africa hopes to get some J&J COVID-19 vaccines this week

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Startling revelations have come out of South Africa&#8217;s health office, on concerns on the AstraZeneca vaccine effectiveness. Yesterday Wits University revealed that the vaccine is highly effective against the original coronavirus, and not necessarily the variant that was discovered in South Africa late last year. But what does all this mean? Joining CNBC Africa for more is UKZN Professor Mosa Moshabela. He is the Chairperson of the Standing Committee on Health at the Academy of Science of South Africa.

Newsletter

Ghana parliament shuts down after COVID-19 outbreak

eSwatini won’t use AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, minister says

Why Products Sold On Instagram, TikTok May Not Be What They Seem

IMF’s 2021 outlook for the South African economy

How Nigeria’s crypto community can navigate the regulatory waters

How can South Africa expand its start-up economy?

AngloGold Ashanti sees earnings to almost triple as gold prices surge

Nedbank denies complicity in S.Africa corruption, shares fall

AstraZeneca vaccine has major role to play, lead S.Africa investigator says

South Africa to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine in steps to assess effectiveness

As vaccines arrive, South Africa faces widespread scepticism over safety

Rebosis: Is JSE censure enough?

2021: What’s holding back FDI into Nigeria?

Is Nigeria doing enough to tackle insecurity?

Nigeria’s Central Bank reiterates position on closure of crypto accounts

South Africa hopes to get some J&J COVID-19 vaccines this week

SA halts plans for AstraZeneca vaccination

News Tips

Advertise With Us

Newsletter

Ghana parliament shuts down after COVID-19 outbreak

eSwatini won’t use AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, minister says

Why Products Sold On Instagram, TikTok May Not Be What They Seem

IMF’s 2021 outlook for the South African economy

How Nigeria’s crypto community can navigate the regulatory waters

How can South Africa expand its start-up economy?

AngloGold Ashanti sees earnings to almost triple as gold prices surge

Nedbank denies complicity in S.Africa corruption, shares fall

AstraZeneca vaccine has major role to play, lead S.Africa investigator says

South Africa to roll out AstraZeneca vaccine in steps to assess effectiveness

As vaccines arrive, South Africa faces widespread scepticism over safety

Rebosis: Is JSE censure enough?

2021: What’s holding back FDI into Nigeria?

Is Nigeria doing enough to tackle insecurity?

Nigeria’s Central Bank reiterates position on closure of crypto accounts

South Africa hopes to get some J&J COVID-19 vaccines this week

SA halts plans for AstraZeneca vaccination

News Tips

Advertise With Us

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