Cyril Ramaphosa | InsideOjodu

South Africa’s President recovers from COVID-19

Hafeestonova — Mon, 20 Dec 2021 14:11:46 +0000

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has returned to work after spending a week in isolation following a positive Covid test, his office said Monday.

Ramaphosa, 69, who is fully vaccinated, felt unwell after leaving a state memorial service for former president FW de Klerk in Cape Town on December 12 as his nation battles an exponential increase in cases of the Omicron coronavirus variant.

His office said in a statement “President Cyril Ramaphosa has ended a week of self-isolation which followed his positive test for COVID-19 on 12 December 2021,”. The President has returned to duty and will chair the final Cabinet meeting for 2021 on Wednesday, 22 December 2021. President Ramaphosa repeats his call for everyone in the country to stay safe by being vaccinated, wearing face masks, washing or sanitising hands frequently, maintaining a social distance and avoiding gatherings.”

South Africa, where the highly mutated Omicron variant was first detected last month, is Africa’s worst-hit country according to official tallies of virus cases, with more than 3.3 million infections logged and more than 90,000 deaths.

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BREAKING: Buhari receives South African President Ramaphosa in Aso Rock

Hafeestonova — Wed, 01 Dec 2021 10:14:32 +0000

President Muhammadu Buhari has received the South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, at the Presidential Villa, Abuja.

Ramaphosa arrived at the Villa at about 10 am on Wednesday and was received by Buhari. He, thereafter, inspected a guard of honour and was treated to a 21-gun salute.

His visit to the Villa is coming hours after the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control confirmed the first three cases of the Omicron variant of COVID-19 in Nigeria, saying they are linked to passengers from South Africa.

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South African President knocks countries for closing their borders in response to Omicron coronavirus outbreak

Hafeestonova — Mon, 29 Nov 2021 10:20:48 +0000

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa has tackled Western countries for quickly imposing travel bans following the latest Omicron coronavirus outbreak.

Britain introduced the measures in response to the emergence of the Omicron variant of Covid in South Africa this week.

Scientists have so far only detected the new Omicron variant in relatively small numbers, mainly in South Africa but also in Botswana, Hong Kong, and Israel. But they are concerned by its high number of mutations which raised concerns that it could be more vaccine-resistant and transmissible.

South African officials are furious over the British ban on flights from southern African countries. Several other countries including Israel have followed suit.

Many South Africans feel they are being punished for their transparency and hard work in keeping tabs on the way the virus is mutating.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said authorities would not be considering economic lockdown restrictions for the time being. He also slams rich Western countries for their knee-jerk imposition of travel bans after hearing about the new variant.

Ramaphosa said: ‘This is a clear and completely unjustified departure from the commitment that many of these countries made at the meeting of G20 countries in Rome last month’. The prohibition of travel is not informed by science, nor will it be effective in preventing the spread of this variant. The only thing [it] will do is to further damage the economies of the affected countries and undermine their ability to respond to the pandemic. ‘If cases continue to climb, we can expect to enter the fourth wave of infections within the next few weeks, if not sooner.’

The Omicron variant is thought to be more transmissible than the currently-dominant Delta variant. It was first identified in South Africa but has been found in Hong Kong, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

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French president phone number found in list of spying targets

Hafeestonova — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 12:20:12 +0000

French president, Emmanuel Macron’s phone number has been found among potential targets of a huge international spying operation.

Macron is among 50,000 politicians, journalists, and human rights activists around the world said to have been identified as ‘people of interest’ by clients of Israeli firm NSO, developer of a surveillance system called Pegasus.

President Imran Khan of Pakistan and President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa as well as World Health Organisation chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. are also among potential targets found on a list of numbers leaked to Amnesty and the Paris-based journalism nonprofit Forbidden Stories.

The Paris prosecutor’s office is investigating suspected widespread use of Pegasus spyware and an official in the president’s office said: ‘If this is proven, it is clearly very serious.’

Investigator Laurent Richard said on French TV: ‘We found these numbers but we obviously couldn’t do a technical analysis of Emmanuel Macron’s phone to determine if it had been infected with a spying device.’

Last night the NSO Group denied that it had ever maintained ‘a list of potential, past or existing targets’.

‘The unprecedented revelation… should send a chill down the spine of world leaders,’ Amnesty’s secretary general, Agnes Callamard, said in a statement.

Three current prime ministers and the king of Morocco, Mohammed VI, are also on the list, The Washington Post reported.

The Post said none of the heads of state would offer their smartphones for forensic testing that might have detected whether they were infected by NSO’s military-grade Pegasus spyware. Thirty-seven phones identified in the investigation were either breached or shows signs of attempted infection, it has reported.

The Post and 16 other members of a global media consortium were granted access to the leaked list. Another member, the French daily Le Monde, determined that 15 members of the French government may have been among potential targets with Macron in 2019.

The Paris prosecutor’s office is investigating the suspected widespread use of NSO’s military-grade Pegasus spyware to target journalists, human rights activists, and politicians in multiple countries.

Also Sunday, Amnesty released a forensic analysis of the alleged targeting that showed Amazon Web Services was hosting NSO infrastructure.

In response, Amazon said it shut down NSO accounts that were ‘confirmed to be supporting the reported hacking activity.’ Amazon said the accounts had violated its terms of use.

Another U.S. company identified by Amnesty as hosting NSO servers was DigitalOcean. When contacted by The Associated Press, DigitalOcean neither confirmed nor denied whether it had identified or cut off such servers, the report said.

‘All of the infrastructure outlined in the Amnesty report is no longer on DigitalOcean,’ it said Tuesday, without elaborating, in an emailed statement.

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South Africa goes back to lockdown

Hafeestonova — Tue, 29 Dec 2020 07:44:36 +0000

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa has announced the country will move back to lockdown level 3, taking effect from tonight, December 28.

In an address, Ramaphosa said that the move is to limit super-spreader events further, and will adjust the previous level 3 regulations to keep the economy as open as possible.

It will also allow the government to focus on social distancing measures with the aim to ease the pressure on hospitals.

He said “Nearly 27,000 South African are known to have died from Covid-19. The number of new coronavirus infections is increasing at an alarming rate. Infections are surging in KwaZulu-Natal, the Western Cape, and Gauteng. Infections are alarmingly on the rise in Limpopo. Infections are on the rise, in part, because we as humans are social beings. We feel the need to visit friends and family, attend religious services, and go to parties. But this is a time of danger. This is where infections happen most. This is cause for alarm and points to an extreme lack of vigilance. We have let our guard down, and we are now paying the price. One of the more difficult areas of regulation relates to the sale of alcohol, the liquor industry is a major employer and an important contributor to our economy. Our priority at this time, however, must be to save lives. They are almost at breaking point, all because of our actions, and failure to take responsibility. Unless we act now and act decisively…thousands of more people will lose their lives. Night clubs and businesses engaged in the sale and transportation of liquor will not be allowed to operate. The Level 3 restrictions will remain in place until 15 January 2021. These regulations may be reviewed within the next few weeks if we see a sustained decline in infections and hospital admissions”

Under the new lockdown level 3, the following takes effect:

All indoor and outdoor gatherings will be prohibited for 14 days, with an exception to funerals and places like restaurants and gyms. These exceptions will be clarified in the official regulations.

The nationwide curfew will be extended to 21h00 to 06h00. Aside from essential services, no one will be permitted to be out during this time. All establishments will close at 20h00, with a more specific list to be published soon.

Every individual will be responsible, legally, for wearing a mask in public. It is now compulsory for every person to wear a mask in a public place. Violators will be guilty of an offence and could be prosecuted. They could be liable for a fine or imprisonment, or both.

Alcohol sales from retail outlets and onsite consumption are banned. The prohibition on the public consumption of alcohol remains.

Businesses will continue to operate, subject to guidelines. Nightclubs and businesses that rely on alcohol sales will not be allowed to operate.

All beaches, dams, rivers and public parks and public pools in hotspot areas will be closed to the public.

These measures will be in place until 15 January 2021, at which time they will be reviewed based on the situation, Ramaphosa said.

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African ambassadors in China lodge formal complaint to address racism in China

Hafeestonova — Mon, 13 Apr 2020 12:06:34 +0000

African ambassadors in China have written to the Chinese foreign minister to express their concerns over the discrimination against Africans, especially in Guangzhou.

Several African countries have separately also demanded that China address their concerns that Africans are being mistreated and harassed.

Africans in Guangzhou have reportedly been ejected from their apartments by their landlords. They have also been subjected to Coronavirus test several times without being given results and being shunned and discriminated against in public.

Videos shared online show Africans stranded, with some forced to sleep on the streets, after being ejected from their hotels and apartments.

The ambassadors’ note highlighted a number of reported incidents, including that Africans were being ejected from hotels in the middle of the night, the seizure of passports, and threats of visa revocation, arrest or deportation.

“The Group of African Ambassadors in Beijing immediately demands the cessation of forceful testing, quarantine and other inhuman treatments meted out to Africans,” it said.

The note was sent to State Councilor Wang Yi, the Chinese government’s top diplomat, copying the chair of the African Union, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa and all African foreign ministers.

Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said in a statement published Sunday “The Guangdong authorities attach great importance to some African countries’ concerns and are working promptly to improve their working method,”

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Coronavirus: South Africa goes into total lockdown

Hafeestonova — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 10:09:37 +0000

The South African Government has announced that the nation will be going into total lockdown from Thursday March 26, in a bid to curb the spread of coronavirus in the country.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the measures after coronavirus cases in the country increased from 274 to 402 on Monday March 23.

According to Ramaphosa, the stay-at-home order which will be effective till April 16 does not apply to essential services personnel, including police, health care workers and those involved in the supply of goods, including food.

He said in his address to the nation “We need to urgently and dramatically escalate our response. The next few days are crucial. Without decisive action the number of people infected will rapidly increase. This is extremely dangerous for a population like ours, which has a a large number of people with suppressed immunity because of HIV and TB, and high levels of poverty and malnutrition.”

With the 128 new cases, South Africa as of Monday had the most virus cases in Africa, surpassing Egypt.‏

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