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Third Wave of COVID-19 infections hit Africa

In Africa, there is an alarming third wave as the vaccine rollout is hampered. In recent light of the vaccine rollout in all parts of the world, third world countries vaccine rollout seems to be stagnant, experts fearing that it may take decades to vaccinate their respective countries.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) regional office has reported that the third wave of Covid-19 cases is spreading faster in Africa. On Thursday, 17 June 2021, WHO regional director for Africa, Dr Matshidiso Moeti warned, “With a rapid increase in the number of cases and increasing reports of severe disease, the latest wave threatens to be the worst to date in Africa,”

According to the regional office, for five consecutive weeks, Africa has seen an increase in Covid-19 cases, signaling the beginning of the third wave in Africa. “As of 20 June—day 48 into the new wave—Africa had recorded around 474 000 new cases—a 21% increase compared with the first 48 days of the second wave.” As reported by WHO, the pandemic is resurging in 12 African countries and at the current rate of infections, the ongoing surge is set to surpass the previous one by early July.

18 African countries have already used over 80% of their COVAX vaccine supplies, 29 have administered over 50% of their suppliers, and eight have exhausted their vaccine supply. It is important to be aware that just over 1% of Africa’s population has been fully vaccinated. Globally, 2.7 billion doses have been administered, with just under 1.5% having been administered in Africa.

Dr Moeti is urging the international community to help Africa deal with the Covid-19 vaccine supply as the surge threatens to impair not only Africa’s economy but society.

 

 

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Namibia Has Ratified the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement

The Republic of Namibia has become the eighth country to ratify the Tripartite Free Trade Area (TFTA) Agreement moving the region closer to having a fully operational Agreement this year. Six more countries are required for the Agreement to enter into force.

Tripartite Coordinator at COMESA Secretariat, Dr Seth Gor has confirmed in Lusaka that seven more countries from the EAC-COMESA-SADC are at advanced stages of ratifying the important document which will spur intra-regional trade. “We are optimistic that the remaining six countries will ratify the Agreement and we can have it fully operational this year,” Dr Gor said.

Dr Gor also revealed that the Republic of Burundi deposited its instrument of ratification in November 2019. The TFTA is a building block for the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) and its aim is to gradually reduce the tariffs for all goods traded in the bloc to zero percent.

The TFTA is focusing on three pillars, Market Integration, Industrial Development and Infrastructure Development. These three areas have been prioritised to support the regional economic integration efforts in the region and the continent.

Other Member States that have so far ratified the TFTA Agreement are Egypt, Uganda, Kenya, South Africa, Rwanda, Botswana and Burundi.

The TFTA was launched in Sharm-el-Sheikh, Egypt on 10 June 2015 and signed by 22 of the original 26 countries covered by the deal. Tunisia, Somalia and South Sudan have since joined the configuration, bringing the total membership to 29 countries. These countries together represent 53 percent of the African Union membership, 60 percent of continental GDP and a combined population of 800 million.

According to trade experts, if the TFTA countries were one country, it would be the thirteenth largest economy in the world. Merchandise trade within the Tripartite region grew from US$23 billion in 2004 to US$55 billion in 2012 – an increase of 140 per cent during this period, reinforcing the ‘Africa rising’ narrative.

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email info@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: Joe McDaniel [1], [2].

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Germany to Return 15th Century Navigation Landmark to Namibia

In a response that might lead to further artefacts being returned to Africa, a German museum has said it would return to Namibia a 15th-century navigation landmark that Portuguese explorers erected on the coast.
The navigation landmark is the padrao or stone cross erected at what soon became known as Cape Cross, north of Walvis Bay, by the Portuguese explorer Diogo Cão in 1486.

Cão had sailed the African coast seeking a way into the Indian Ocean and reached as far south as 22°10 S before turning back.

Before doing so he left his final “marker” on a small headland that as early as 1500 was being shown on maps as “Cape Cross”.

The next explorer to pass that way was Bartolomeu Dias who succeeded in becoming the first European to round the southernmost tip of Africa when he sailed into the Indian Ocean in 1488.

Dias went only as far as a little north of Algoa Bay before turning back, leaving the glory of opening a trade route to India to Vasco da Gama whose sailing along the east coast on Christmas Day, 1497 left us with the name of “Natal”.

The stone cross at Cape Cross remained a useful marker to all navigators. Carved from sandstone and weighing more than a tonne most were able to withstand the ravages of time, but not always of man. Some are thought to have been destroyed by the inhabitants of the land on which they were planted by a European race claiming the land. Others, like that at Cape Cross, were later removed elsewhere.

The padrao at Cape Cross was one that remained in situ until the 1890s when the occupying Germans removed it to Germany. In 2006, the cross went on display at the the German Historical Museum in Berlin.

In 2017, Namibian authorities began requesting its return, which has been acceded and which might prove to be the start of a return to Namibia of other artefacts and even human remains.

Namibian ambassador to Germany, Andreas Guibeb, described the return of the cross as “important as a step for us to reconcile with our colonial past and the trail of humiliation and systematic injustice that it left behind”.

German culture minister Monika Gruetters said the restitution of the stone cross of Cape Cross was a clear signal that Germany was committed to coming to terms with its colonial past.

“For too many decades, the colonial time has been a blind spot in our remembrance culture,” she said.

The museum pointed out that while it has agreed to return the 533-year-old cross, despite it not being of African origin, it acknowledged the outstanding significance an artefact like this padrao had on the people of Namibia and the special contribution it could make on site in the future of understanding Namibia’s history.

The cross, it said, highlighted how “descendants from Europe and Africa can engage in dialogue that does historical justice” to it.

The Cape Cross padrao is 3.5m high and weighs 1.1 tonnes and, as with the others, was intended to be seen from out at sea.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2], [3]. Image sources: [1], [2].

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New Research Study Looks to Empower Namibian Communities to Champion Environmental Conservation

Namibian Environmental Awareness Training (NEAT) has just launched a three-month research project in the Kunene region in northwest Namibia to understand the relationship and interactions between rural communities and the regions’ iconic nature and wildlife. This study will allow NEAT to develop tailored environmental education programmes for schools and communities, to empower them to actively engage in and benefit from nature conservation.

The Kunene region is one of Namibia’s last wildernesses and home to rare desert-adapted elephants, rhinos and lions, as well as numerous other endangered species. Himba, Herero, Damara, San people and many other indigenous communities also live in the region, often in remote villages and in direct contact with nature and wild animals.

Rural livelihoods often depend on natural resources and are affected by human-wildlife conflict or environmental disasters such as droughts. Wildlife populations are also under pressure, facing threats from habitat loss and illegal poaching. NEAT’s research and education programme will address these issues together, recognising that human prosperity and biodiversity conservation are inextricably linked.

NEAT started the research study on Sunday, 3rd March 2019. Over the coming three months, a team of four conservationists and educators will visit eight different communities from across the entire Kunene region and interview adults, children and school teachers. Two experienced UK-based scientists will assist with data analysis. The results will be shared with Namibian school directors and the Minister of Education, who have already expressed their interest in this study.

The project is led by NEAT founder Steven Maseka, an award-winning Namibian environmentalist who previously worked in Namibia’s world-renowned Community Based Natural Resources Management programme and featured in the 2018 BBC documentary Pangolins – The World’s Most Wanted Animal.

The first phase of the project is supported by crowdfunding, and you can help immensely by donating here.

 

For information as to how Relocation Africa can help you with your Mobility, Immigration, Research, Remuneration, and Expat Tax needs, email marketing@relocationafrica.com, or call us on +27 21 763 4240.

Sources: [1], [2]. Image sources: [1], Richard van Wijngaarden [2].

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