For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Sane Dhlamini.
Making headlines: ActionSA calls for independent inquiry following unrest, South Africa's death toll passes 70 000 as it records 243 new deaths and, Africa must build vaccine-making capacity says World Trade Organization                         

ActionSA calls for independent inquiry following unrest

ActionSA founder and leader Herman Mashaba said that his party would approach President Cyril Ramaphosa to appoint an independent body to probe the acts of lawlessness and unrest that recently took place in Gauteng and KwaZulu-Natal.

Mashaba said his party did not have faith that Parliament would successfully handle the inquiry into the unrest and said what had occurred was high treason.

He said despite the cost, an inquiry such as the State Capture Commission, led by Deputy Chief Justice Raymond Zondo, has opened the eyes of the country.

Mashaba said the destruction of the economy, owing to the unrest, was as a result of factionalism in the ruling ANC.

South Africa's death toll passes 70 000 as it records 243 new deaths

South Africa's official Covid-19 death toll reached 70 000 on Monday with 243 new deaths, bringing the official death toll to 70 018.

According to a statement by the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, the country recorded 2 383 490 laboratory-confirmed cases.

As of Monday, Gauteng recorded 844 746 confirmed cases of Covid-19, KwaZulu-Natal 386 217 and the Western Cape 383 425.
To date, 1 194 931 people have been fully vaccinated with the Pfizer vaccine, while 1 242 236 have been vaccinated with the single-dose Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Africa must build vaccine-making capacity says World Trade Organization  

World Trade Organization Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala says African nations should build capacity to produce vaccines on the continent and work with pharmaceutical companies to ensure that the raw materials needed to produce the inoculations are available.

While a waiver on the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights, that is being discussed at the WTO is seen as a way to improve the supply of Covid-19 vaccines to the world’s least inoculated continent, Okonjo-Iweala cautioned that only a handful of African countries have the capacity to produce the life-saving drugs.

A meeting with heads of vaccine manufacturers including Johnson & Johnson, Pfizer Inc, Moderna Inc, the makers of Russia’s Sputnik shot and Sinopharm Group Co. at the WTO last week showed that companies are interested in boosting investments on the continent, she said.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today
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