June 12, 2024.

For Creamer Media in Johannesburg, I’m Thabi Shomolekae.

Making headlines:

SA records Mpox death, sources vaccines from WHO member countries

CDE suggests new administration should shrink, streamline Cabinet

And, Rwanda says UN refugee agency lying in British asylum policy case

SA records Mpox death, sources vaccines from WHO member countries

Health Minister Dr Joe Phaahla announced that his department intends obtaining a stockpile of Tecovirimat treatment for rapid deployment against the monkeypox disease, also known as Mpox, from which the country has recorded one death.

Phaahla was updating the public on the outbreak of Mpox disease, where he noted five laboratory-confirmed cases and said treatment would be donated by other countries in case the current situation led to a wider outbreak.

He highlighted that all current patients were males aged between 30 and 39 years without travel history to the countries currently experiencing an outbreak, which he said suggested there was local transmission of the infectious disease in the country.

In 2022, South Africa recorded five positive cases in the Western Cape, KwaZulu-Natal, Limpopo and Gauteng, with no cases reported in 2023.

Some common symptoms of Mpox include a rash lasting for two to four weeks, fever, headache, muscle aches, back pain, low energy, and swollen glands.

CDE suggests new administration should shrink, streamline Cabinet

A significant reduction in the number of Cabinet Ministers and a fundamental overhaul of the Presidency are important steps towards fixing South Africa’s weak State, says policy research organisation Centre for Development and Enterprise executive director Ann Bernstein.

Smaller Cabinets tend to be more agile, more collegial and more accountable, she adds, noting that Cabinet processes would be greatly strengthened by a far more rigorous process of priority-setting, so that government focuses on doing fewer things, well.

To deepen reform in South Africa, the President must select the best people available to him, namely those with the necessary experience and skills to lead large government departments and those with the integrity to govern honestly, she says.

Even within the political reality of a potential coalition government, it is possible to reduce the number of Cabinet Ministers and ensure that the best available people are chosen in key portfolios, she adds.

Further, Operation Vulindlela should be strengthened and reconstituted as a delivery unit focused solely on the delivery of priority reforms, she suggests.

Rwanda says UN refugee agency lying in British asylum policy case

Rwanda said the UN refugee agency had lied when the organisation told a British court this week that asylum seekers sent to the East African country could be moved on again to states where they risked torture or death.

Lawyers representing the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees told the court on Monday that Rwanda's asylum system was inadequate, as part of a challenge to the British government's policy to deport asylum seekers there.

The lawyers said removing asylum seekers to Rwanda put them at risk of being transferred again in a banned process known as refoulement - building on past evidence which formed an important part of the UK Supreme Court's reasoning when it ruled last year that the British plan was unlawful.

"UNHCR is lying," Rwanda's government spokesperson said in a statement late on Tuesday. A UNHCR spokesperson in Rwanda said she had no immediate comment.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

Don’t forget to follow us on the X platform, at the handle @PolityZA