Trade union strike in South Africa, update of technology and vaccines, and Tanzanian author wins Nobel Prize
South Africa’s largest union goes on strike
South Africa’s largest metalworkers union on Tuesday called an industry-wide strike after arbitration with industry employers failed to reach agreement on higher wages . The National Metalworkers Union (NUMSA), which represents 155,000 South Africans, had called for an immediate 8% increase in wages for all jobs, an increase equal to inflation plus 2 percentage points. The Federation of Steel Industry and Engineering of South Africa (SEIFSA), which represents the employers, had responded with a two-year gradual build-up to an increase in inflation plus 1 percent. Rejecting the offer, NUMSA staged nationwide protests on Tuesday, with thousands of union members and others in attendance for a protest in Johannesburg.
A survey conducted by SEIFSA on Tuesday indicated an absenteeism rate of around 26 percent for union members. “I fear… that number will increase as the strike continues throughout the week,” said Lucio Trentini, CEO of SEIFSA. Trentini also expressed concern that history would repeat a four-week NUMSA strike in 2014, which shrank the economy by nearly $ 400 million. Retail Motor Industry Association official Mark Roberts said a strike lasting more than a week could impact the supply of a South African auto industry already weakened by COVID-19, which has already seen domestic sales and internationals fell 30% last year.
As of Friday, no agreement had been reached between the two negotiating bodies.
Moderna announces plans to build mRNA vaccine factory in Africa, and WHO recommends African children receive world’s first malaria vaccine
On Wednesday, October 6, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that it was recommending that the world’s first malaria vaccine be widely administered to African children, who are particularly vulnerable to the parasitic disease transmitted by mosquito bites. Malaria is endemic in Africa, which accounts for 94 percent of malaria cases and deaths worldwide per year and killed 386,000 Africans in 2019.
The vaccine, Mosquirix, was first approved by the European Union in 2015. In 2019, WHO coordinated a large-scale pilot program to deliver 2.3 million doses of the vaccine to infants in Kenya, Malawi and Ghana. Although this malaria vaccine offers only 30 percent effectiveness in preventing serious illness, the WHO has stated that administration of the vaccine, in conjunction with other preventive measures such as mosquito nets, could save the lives of thousands of children. An alternative malaria vaccine, produced by the University of Oxford, has reported up to 77% effectiveness, but the vaccine is still in the testing phase. GlaxoSmithKline, the UK pharmaceutical company that developed Mosquirix, has pledged to produce 15 million doses of vaccine per year through 2028 at a production cost plus a maximum margin of 5%. WHO predicts that global demand for malaria vaccines could reach 50 to 110 million doses per year by 2030. Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, a public-private partnership for global health, has begun examining whether and how it will finance the international deployment of the malaria vaccine.
In other vaccine news, Moderna, one of two pharmaceutical companies producing COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, on Thursday announced plans to invest up to $ 500 million to build a plant capable of produce 500 million doses of mRNA vaccine in Africa per year. Unlike Pfizer and BioNTech’s partnership with the BioVac Institute of South Africa to fill and complete COVID-19 vaccines, the Moderna facility will manufacture active mRNA ingredients, as well as vial-filling capabilities, which it will will use to produce vaccines for COVID-19 and other diseases. It will also employ mostly local workers. Moderna shortlisted five undisclosed African countries and described its site selection criteria: “political stability, infrastructure and an educated workforce suitable for a high-tech messenger RNA factory.”
Africa secures funding for e-commerce as Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco become cryptocurrency leaders
On October 6, Google announced the creation of the Africa Investment Fund with plans to invest $ 1 billion in Africa over the next five years. The fund will invest $ 50 million in startups, giving them access to its people, technologies and network. Nitin Gajria, chief executive of Google Africa, detailed the announcement, saying Google will target fintech startups, e-commerce and local language content with the fund.
In other tech news, this week, The Africa Report reported that sub-Saharan Africa now has more cryptocurrencies by volume than any other region, including North America. In particular, Kenya, Nigeria and Morocco are the world leaders in cryptocurrencies. In fact, 8.5% of the population of Kenya has a cryptocurrency account and 6.3% of Nigerians (for comparison, 14% of Americans own a cryptocurrency). Likewise, the cryptocurrency adoption rate in Kenya is higher than the rates in the United States and China.
Although cryptocurrencies have not seen similar adoption in other parts of the continent, this trend is also changing: for example, in May 2018 Zimbabwe banned local banks from trading or dealing payments related to cryptocurrencies; However, during a recent visit to the DMCC Crypto Center in Dubai, Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance Mthuli Ncube tweeted that he “had stumbled upon solutions involving cryptocurrencies that could lower remittance fees. of the diaspora “. In fact, Clive Mphambela, director of communications at the Ministry of Finance, said that “with disruptive blockchain technology, the cost of commission fees to facilitate money transfers can drop significantly.” Despite these statements, however, Zimbabwe’s leading cryptocurrency traders and enthusiasts doubt the blockchain enthusiasm will change the government’s stance on its crypto ban.
Tanzanian writer Abdulrazak Gurnah wins Nobel Prize for Literature
Earlier this week, the Nobel Prize committee announced that it would award the 2021 Nobel Prize for Literature to Tanzanian novelist Abdulrazak Gurnah. In the announcement, the committee praised Gurnah for “his uncompromising and compassionate penetration of the effects of colonialism and the plight of refugees in the chasm between cultures and continents.”
Born in Zanzibar in 1948, Gurnah immigrated to England as a refugee in the 1960s. He wrote numerous essays and short stories as well as 10 novels, several of which were shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Award. His best-known novels include “Paradise” (1994), “By the Sea” (2001) and “Desertion” (2005). A refugee himself, the author is known to tackle complex and nuanced issues relating to migration, displacement and refugees, which the committee acknowledged in the announcement, stating: “The dedication of Abdulrazak Gurnah for truth and its aversion to simplification are striking. … His novels recoil from stereotypical descriptions and open our eyes to a culturally diverse East Africa, unknown to many in other parts of the world.
In response to the announcement, Gurnah told The Associated Press, “You think that can’t be true. It literally took my breath away. “
Gurnah joins black African author Wole Soyinkain (1986) to win this literature award.
