Deputy President Paul Mashatile will, in his capacity as Acting President, lead the signing by multiple stakeholders of the Second Presidential Health Compact at the Union Buildings, Pretoria, at 12h30 today, Thursday, 22 August 2024.

President Ramaphosa has appointed Deputy President Mashatile as Acting President, based on medical advice that President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is in good spirits otherwise, allow an eye infection to clear.

Immediately after the Health Compact signing, Acting President Mashatile will receive Letters of Credence from Heads of Mission and Ambassadors-Designate of 11 countries.

The incoming members of the Diplomatic Corps have been nominated by their respective governments to serve as official representatives to South Africa.

The presentation of credentials to the Acting President will take place at the Sefako Makgatho Presidential Guest House on the Bryntirion Estate at 14h00.

Representatives of the following countries will be welcomed to South Africa by Acting President Mashatile:

The Republic of Nicaragua; the Republic of Guinea; the Republic of Peru; the People’s Republic of China; the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela; the Holy See; the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the Republic of Gabon; the Republic of Finland; the Republic of Senegal, and the Republic of Ghana.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of The Presidency of the Republic of South Africa.

The Chairperson of the Portfolio Committee on Home Affairs, Mr Mosa Chabane, is distraught about the death of a refugee at the Desmond Tutu Refugee Reception Centre in Pretoria on Tuesday following a reported stampede. The death of another refugee undermines the spirit of South Africa’s strong legal and human rights framework on refugees and asylum seekers’ rights, as encapsulated in the Refugees Act 130 of 1998, and South Africa’s global and regional international refugee law obligations.

Mr Chabane emphasised the need for the Department of Home Affairs to fast-track the finalisation of the assessment of the implications of relocating refugee reception centres closer to ports of entry. The one-stop-shop facility proposal in the White Paper on Citizenship, Immigration and Refugee Protection: Towards a Complete Overhaul of the Migration System in South Africa (2024) makes an argument for refugee reception offices to be located at ports of entry to facilitate immediate assessment of asylum claims.

“It is necessary to have in place refugee reception centres that offer quality services to asylum seekers and refugees to ensure adherence to international obligations and respect to human rights,” Mr Chabane emphasised.

The Chairperson also called on the Department of Home Affairs to work with sister departments to conduct a broad investigation on the causes of the stampeded that resulted in the death. Also, the department must urgently devise strategies to prevent any possible recurrence of this incident.

The committee has a scheduled an oversight visit to the centre in October and hopes that the investigation will establish the cause of the incident.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Republic of South Africa: The Parliament.

In response to a dramatic spike in malaria cases in Ethiopia over the last eight months, the U.S. Ambassador to Ethiopia and the State Minister of Health helped to distribute approximately 85,000 insecticide-treated nets (ITNs) at the Shebe Sombo Health Center in Jimma Zone, Oromia Region on August 21, 2024. After a decade of declining malaria cases, which saw the number of cases drop below one million in 2019, Ethiopia experienced a spike this year with cases reaching five million.

The United States distributed 1.6 million new generation insecticide- treated nets in 28 high risk areas, each infused with two types of insecticide and considered to be the most effective available against the mosquitos that transmit malaria. “These nets are the best way to prevent the disease,” said Ambassador Ervin J. Massinga. The nets are expected to protect at least three million people.

The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) procured the nets, costing USD 7 million through the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) which has been working with the Federal Ministry of Health to fight malaria in the country since 2008. Malaria affects nearly 75 percent of Ethiopia, putting 75 million people – 69 percent of the population – at risk. PMI has delivered 53.3 million mosquito nets to date and sprayed 700,000 homes annually since the program’s inception. PMI has delivered 9.4 million rapid diagnostic tests and 15.6 million fast acting malaria medicines since 2008.

In sub-Saharan Africa, ITNs have reduced malaria by 50 percent, a region accounting for 94 percent of all malaria cases and 95 percent of deaths. “These nets are the best way to prevent the disease,” said Massinga, “but there’s a catch,” he warned. “They only work if used consistently. You need to sleep under the nets every night,” he advised.

Ethiopia is among the fifteen countries most heavily impacted by malaria in the world. Malaria is highly seasonable and unstable in the country, so adults and children are equally at risk for infection and disease. Because peak malaria transmission often coincides with the planting and harvesting season, the malaria risk is shared among older children and working adults in rural agricultural areas. “If you use the nets consistently,” said the Ambassador, “we may gain the upper hand on what is currently a dramatic uptick in malaria cases here in Ethiopia.”

For 120 years, the United States and Ethiopia have partnered in health and education, agriculture and food security, science and the environment, and many other areas to improve the lives of all Ethiopians.

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of U.S. Embassy in Ethiopia.

Nearly 500 unaccompanied and separated children have arrived in Blue Nile and Gedaref states over six weeks as heavy fighting forces more people to flee for safety after 16 months of conflict, Save the Children said.

Escalation in violence in Sennar’s state capital Sinja on 29 June triggered widespread fighting which has displaced about 725,000 people, over half of whom are estimated to be children, according to data from International Organization for Migration’s Displacement Tracking Matrix (IOM DTM).[1]

Families are fleeing to Blue Nile and Gedaref states with rising numbers of children arriving without their parents, Save the Children said.  Many of these families are being displaced for the second and third time, having sought refuge in Sinja in Sennar state after fleeing Khartoum and Gazira states earlier in the conflict.

Save the Children child protection teams in Blue Nile and Gedaref states have recorded at least 451 children between June 29 and August 14 forced to make the perilous journey to safety without their parents, the highest number they have recorded in such a short period since the conflict started in April 2023.

At least 60,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) who have made their way to Blue Nile state have been settled in more than 109 gathering sites and schools, which could delay reopening of schools in September.

Further, ongoing heavy rains and floodings are compounding the suffering for families and children fleeing fighting, with muddy and impassable roads making it difficult to get essential supplies, including food and medicine to people who need them.

The interior ministry this month reported heavy rainfall across different parts of the country killing at least 68 people, increasing the suffering for millions of people struggling to survive in the world’s largest displacement crisis. The heavy rains have also led to a scarcity of essential drugs and goods such as wheat flour, oil, cereals and onions. in the local markets, driving up prices.

More than 16 months of conflict have killed and injured thousands of children, forced many into child labour, destroyed healthcare and education, upended food systems, and created the world’s worst child displacement crisis with 6.7 million children now forced from their homes [4].   

Mary Lupul, Humanitarian Director of Save the Children in Sudan, said:

“Our staff in Blue Nile and Gedaref states are receiving at least nine children without their parents in camps for displaced people every day. During my visit to an IDP camp in Gedaref last month I saw children who had endured terrifying journeys arrive at our reception centres, completely exhausted and many showing signs of malnutrition.

“These children have seen their homes, hospitals, playgrounds and schools bombed, looted and occupied, and have been separated from their parents or guardians. They’ve lost loved ones and been subject to unspeakable violence. We know that children who have been separated from families are at much higher risk of violence, abuse and exploitation, including trafficking, recruitment into armed groups and sexual and gender-based violence.

“In Gedaref, Save the Children has put up a child friendly space where children can play and be children again. They are sheltered from the fighting happening outside this place and receive lots of psychosocial support from our staff. Here, they have a chance to express their emotions through drawing, find comfort in other children and even enjoy a game of volleyball.

“What I personally witnessed is that children even in the most dire and trying of circumstances want to be children and the opportunity to play and be with other children is so important.  Yet this crisis is not getting the attention it deserves. Save the Children is calling for an immediate ceasefire and meaningful progress towards a lasting peace agreement as well as for the international community to step up and release the necessary funding and resources to protect children’s lives.”

The humanitarian response for Sudan is significantly underfunded, with donors contributing just 37.4% to a $2.7 billion UN response plan. 

In early August, Save the Children warned that the number of children in Sudan seeking treatment for severe acute malnutrition (SAM) has surged to unprecedented levels. Data from the aid agency showing a rapid spike in malnutrition in the central southern state of South Kordofan where the number of under-fives admitted with SAM in June in alone was 99% of the programme’s expected case load for the year [1]. 

At the same time, the Famine Review Committee of the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC) – the leading international authority on the severity of hunger crises – said there was famine in North Darfur’s Zamzam Camp due to the escalating humanitarian crisis which threatens to spill over into the rest of Sudan. 

Save the Children, in partnership with Ministry of Social Development, State Council for Child Welfare and Family and Child Protection Unit, is supporting unaccompanied and separated children with an interim care package that includes basic items such as rice, lentils, sugar, cooking oil, soap, blankets and mosquito nets in Damazine, Blue Nile state. 

Save the Children has worked in Sudan since 1983 and is currently supporting children and their families across Sudan providing health, nutrition, education, child protection and food security and livelihoods support. Save the Children is also supporting refugees from Sudan in Egypt and South Sudan. 

Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Save the Children.