[civsoc-mw] FW: Latest News and Updates

[cammack at mweb.co.za]

Fyi. d

 

From: The Brenthurst Foundation <media at thebrenthurstfoundation.org> 
Sent: 22 April 2021 12:00
To: cammack at mweb.co.za
Subject: Latest News and Updates

 




	




	

 




Dear Subscriber,

To encourage people to trade more, you need to make it as easy as possible for them to do so. As part of a series of field trips to Malawi, The Brenthurst Foundation’s Director, Dr Greg Mills, conducted a  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=a2f039faf7&e=0c33472821> route diagnostic from Mozambique to Malawi, to assess the state of trade infrastructure between the countries.

Accompanied by logistics expert Richard Harper, and Chair of the Kogelberg Biosphere Reserve Company Mike du Toit, Dr   <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/6859ebdc-795b-48a7-9274-6e9bf71691c0.png> Mills drove to Lilongwe from Maputo, discovering that the main arteries connecting the capitals were riddled with cratered roads, abandoned border posts, thirsty policeman, and derelict train tracks.
 
An extract:
“‘You go to the police station’ menaced Sergeant Silvestre, turning to point behind his back at a lime green building, explaining that the crime was ‘not wearing a mask in the car’. We were stopped in a queue of trucks and cars negotiating speedbumps, army, police, paramilitary, immigration agents and sellers of nuts, cooldrinks and much else at the bridge that spans the great Save River in Mozambique’s Inhambane Province, just north of the popular tourist destination of Vilanculos.
 
“We saw no tourists at all on the road to Malawi from Maputo, not even adventuresome overlanders and members of the 4x4 brigade. This may have (partly) been down to Covid-19, but their absence was hardly surprising given the levels of intimidation and friction from officialdom”.

  <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/38f5a05f-49c1-49ca-a224-43bb6cf2552f.png> 

You can read about their experiences and conclusions in the discussion paper ‘ <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=312aecd4da&e=0c33472821> Access Malawi: Mozambique – Malawi Route Diagnostic’.
 
Poor physical infrastructure is not confined to Mozambique or Malawi. For more than a century, South Africa’s rail network was at the heart of its economic growth. Since the mid- 19th century, this vital system only grew in size and importance as deposits of diamond and gold demanded much-needed access to previously inaccessible areas of the country.
 
Aided by strong economic growth throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, the Van Breda Commissi  <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/65fecfd6-c884-4c41-b3a9-19fb79c635a9.png> on recommended gradual “qualified deregulation” of the nations roads. In conjunction with operational, managerial and financial decline, the country’s railways progressively decayed, becoming more unsafe and unsecure. Increasingly, South Africans were taking to the roads.
 
The issues that plague the country’s rail network long predate Covid-19. But the pandemic has exacerbated and accelerated its decline. In  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=00a230ff20&e=0c33472821> ‘Why There Are so many Trucks on the Road and so Few Trains on the Tracks’, David Williams explains where it all went wrong, and what needs to be done to fix it.
 
Williams also wrote an abridged version of his discussion paper, ‘ <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=3d6393ab14&e=0c33472821> What broke South African rail – and can it be fixed’, which can be found  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=25c18cab9e&e=0c33472821> here.
 
As vaccination programmes across much of the world get under way, countries like Israel and the UK are starting to see the benefits of fast and decisive planning, as they begin to slowly reopen their economies, possibly for the last time. South Africa’s vaccination programme, however, has left little to be desired. By early April, more than half of Israel’s population had received a least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine. In South Africa, the figure was less than 0.5%.

But, as Dr Mills and Ray Hartley argue in ‘ <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=2631527c17&e=0c33472821> South Africa’s vaccine roll-out failings expose the hollowing out of the state’, instead of accepting responsibility for his government’s failings, President Ramaphosa has tried to direct people’s ire towards others.
 
An extract:
“"Vaccine apartheid must come to an end”, said Ramaphosa, criticising developed countries for hogging vaccines.
   <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/3c7d8db1-7eba-46ef-99c9-f3a8a1efeb5a.png> 
“Admitting that his government “had lost a little bit of time”, by that stage South Africa’s health system had failed to administer a single dose outside of vaccine trials of a drug not yet approved by its own health authorities. After months of promises of a vaccine roll-out which would require 160,000 daily doses to reach the government’s own targets by the end of 2021, just more than 200,000 healthcare workers had been inoculated after the first 36 days, averaging 5,700 doses daily. At this rate, it would take more than 16 years to vaccinate 67% of the population required for so-called herd immunity.
 
“Even though Ramaphosa and other leaders of his government were among the first in the queue to be inoculated, vaccine apartheid cannot be to blame for the lack of a workable roll-out plan and lack of transparency about where and when the vaccines would be acquired. Only in April did the government finally announce it had signed a deal to acquire 20 million doses of the Pfizer vaccine to augment its Johnson & Johnson doses”.
 
 <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=b3a8b46c4b&e=0c33472821> Read the full article here.
 
Covid-19 has brought into sharp focus the state of healthcare systems across the African continent. According to the global health security index, just twenty-one out of the fifty-four countries found on the continent are capable of handling a pandemic outbreak.
 
Understaffed and underfunded, leaders, argue Emmanuel Owusu-Sekyere and Marie-Noelle Nwok  <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/54642d67-31b9-4af9-8b7f-c9e0ece81c8e.png> olo, need to start putting people before personal or political interests. Their article, ‘ <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=d6fa4b08c6&e=0c33472821> Understanding and building resilience of health systems in Africa: Covid-19 and beyond’, discusses some of the biggest problems commonly associated with African healthcare systems, from inadequate financial resources and testing capabilities, to poor service delivery and lack of leadership.
 
“Good leadership is not just a fashionable mantra”, they write, “it is a prerequisite for developing robust and resilient systems, especially in health, under the circumstances. African leaders need to invest in the priorities that will allow them to build the hardware and software necessary for creating robust and resilient health systems that can deliver under emergencies, and the requisite human capital to manage them”.
 
 <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=622766d2e4&e=0c33472821> Read the full article here.
 
Marie-Noelle also wrote ‘ <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=c7a62401ab&e=0c33472821> Africa needs to ramp up education to meet the changing world of work’, which questions whether the continent’s current education system is ready to accommodate its fast growing population, which is due to exceed 2.3 billion by 2050.
 
An extract:
“One in ten people 15 years and above are unable to read and write. The number, is perhaps, higher if the quality of education is factored in. High levels of illiteracy beget widespread marginalisation from productive economic and social life, worsens inequality,  <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/33bd602b-2bb5-4060-b6dd-f77abeb2e369.png> and is associated with  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=3593326ed1&e=0c33472821> poorer health and nutrition.
 
“Given that the educational level of the labour force is linked to the level of  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=956789efd0&e=0c33472821> national income, it cannot be disregarded in a comprehensive growth strategy that seeks to capitalize on the continent’s bulging youth population.
 
“Since the 1970s, sub-Saharan Africa’s primary-school education enrolment rates have improved from under 60 per cent to 100 per cent. Progression to secondary school has, however, tarried around 75 per cent since 2007. Similarly, the rate of primary-school completion for sub-Saharan Africa, at 70 per cent, is below the global average rate of over 89 per cent. This leaves a significant number of African youths who are not in or have fallen out of education – a situation with a clear impact on their employable skill levels as well as national income. Evidently, there are deep-seated socioeconomic barriers that hinder students’ progression and completion of formal education, despite high enrolment rates, that need to be addressed”.
 
 <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=7e5b36c7b6&e=0c33472821> Read the full article here.

Some of the ideas Marie-Noelle presents were based on the book ' <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=188928590d&e=0c33472821> Making Africa work: A handbook for economic success', co-authored by The Brenthurst Foundation's Dr Mills, Jeffrey Herbst, former Nigerian President Olusegun Obasanjo, and Dickie Davis.
 
Following a short break,  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=6e7ddc9273&e=0c33472821> The Brenthurst Foundation Podcast is back.
 
Each week, Marie-Noelle shines a light on some of Africa’s biggest and most pressing issues. Featuring a broad range of some of the continent’s best practitioners and brightest thinkers, the podcast details not just what to do, but how to do it.
 
Two weeks ago, we heard from IT Community Engagement Lead and speaker Lily Edinam Botsyoe, who makes the social impact case for tech. You can listen to ‘The power of technology: Preparing today’s youth for tomorrow’s digital world’  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=ddc2b5918d&e=0c33472821> here.
 
More recently, Marie-Noelle hosted author, city planner and former fellow at The Brenthurst Foundation, Archimedes Muzenda, to learn more about how to avoid a demographic disaster in Africa’s urban spaces. You can listen to ‘The rapid urbanisation of African cities: How to avoid a demographic crisis’,  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=aaedf99a68&e=0c33472821> here.
 
All podcast episodes are available to download  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=4e453c6efd&e=0c33472821> here.
 
Next, to Afghanistan, where conflict has rumbled on, with varying degrees of intensity, for the last 20 years. President Biden said it was the time to "end America's longest war", as he announced the withdrawal of all remaining US and NATO troops by September 11, 20 years since that fateful day in 2001.

Times Radio’s John Pienaar spoke to Dr Mills about what he thinks the closing of this chapter in Afghanistan's history will mean for the future of the country. Listen to the interview in full  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=bc364c49c4&e=0c33472821> here.
 
Finally, The Brenthurst Foundation welcomes our latest Machel-Mandela fellow,  <https://thebrenthurstfoundation.us15.list-manage.com/track/click?u=1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf&id=7daa5efa41&e=0c33472821> Gugu Resha.
 
Gugu holds an MSc in Philosophy and Public Policy from the London School of Economics and Political Science. She obtained a BA and Honours in Humanities and Philosophy, respectively, from Stellenbosch Universit  <https://mcusercontent.com/1d2909e8371686f6db98330bf/images/7c20896a-8f2c-4c26-9331-02b5da16e1f7.jpg> y. She is an alumni of the Programme for African Leadership (PfAL) at LSE and the South Africa-Washington International Programme. Gugu has also undertaken internships at the National Women’s Law Center and the South African Institute of International Affairs.
 
Her interests lie in social policy for poverty reduction, democratic inclusivity and, sustainable and inclusive urban development. In her spare time you can find her watching wildlife documentaries, exploring the city by foot or watching stand-up comedy shows.

 



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