President Cyril Ramaphosa on Sunday saluted his Cabinet Minister, Jackson Mthembu, who succumbed to COVID-19 complications this week.

Delivering the eulogy in Mpumulanga, Ramaphosa said “I have not only lost a colleague and comrade, I have lost a dear friend.”

Ramaphosa said Mthembu, who served as Minister in the Presidency, had often lifted his spirits and the two spoke daily.

“We have lost a man who was able to transcend political alliances… We need more men and women like him,” he added.

Mthembu, 62, served as chief whip of the ruling African National Congress in Parliament from 2016 to 2019.

South African President, Cyril Ramaphosa, will face his first motion of no confidence in the National Assembly next Thursday.

House Speaker Thandi Modise, on Thursday approved the motion by the African Transformation Movement (ATM).

“The motion is scheduled in terms of Section 102 of the Constitution, which provides that, if the Assembly, by a vote supported by a majority of its members, passes a motion of no confidence on the president, the president and other members of the Cabinet and any deputy ministers must resign,” noted parliamentary spokesperson Moloto Mothapo.

The ATM lodged its motion with Modise in February, listing 15 reasons why Ramaphosa should be removed from office.

The ATM argued that there are concerns over the funding of Ramaphosa’s presidential campaign funding and his disputed disclosure of this in Parliament.

ATM leader Vuyolwethu Zungula, also said that Ramaphosa has presided over economic devastation, unemployment, poverty and inequality.

The motion will be debated and then voted through an open ballot. Modise declined the ATM’s request to have a secret ballot.

“Section 1(d) of the Constitution sets openness as a fundamental principle for our democracy. The Constitution also instructs the Assembly to conduct its business in an open manner,” said Mothapo.

He noted that the Constitutional Court has indicated that a secret ballot becomes necessary, where the prevailing atmosphere is toxified or highly charged, but the Speaker found that the ATM “had not offered any evidence of a highly charged atmosphere or intimidation of any members in the motivation for their request.”

The last motion of no confidence was brought against former president Jacob Zuma in August 2017 and it was voted for in a secret ballot.

While several members of the ruling African National Congress broke ranks and voted in favour of the motion, it was not enough to remove Zuma.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also the African Union (AU) chairperson, has called on countries of the world to shun racism and intolerance.

Ramaphosa made the remarks late on Wednesday while taking part in a virtual conference of the 1st Extraordinary Inter-Sessional Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific States.

He described the coronavirus pandemic as a global public health emergency needing a global response.

“We, therefore, need to promote multilateralism as the most effective instrument to ensure that all countries, big and small, rich and poor, are accommodated and their voices heard,” he said.

Ramaphosa reaffirmed full support for the initiative by the World Health Organisation (WHO) together with many governments, non-profit organisations and industry leaders to speed up the development and production of vaccines and therapeutics.

He also expressed support for efforts aimed at ensuring that the vaccines and therapeutics were distributed speedily and equitably across the globe.

Ramaphosa said that WHO had been instrumental to supporting national efforts at combating COVID-19.

“Global solidarity demands that we also stand as one against all forms of racism and intolerance” while fighting the pandemic, Ramaphosa added.

He said the AU had strongly condemned the murder of George Floyd in the U.S. and shares the anger of millions in the U.S. and across the world.

Outrage over the death of unarmed African American George Floyd at the hands of police in Minneapolis has been growing across the U.S., and now, beyond.

Floyd, 46, died after a white police officer knelt on his neck for almost nine minutes until he stopped breathing.

“As countries that have borne the brunt of racial discrimination over centuries, we need to work together to end the scourge of racial violence, wherever it occurs.

“By working together, we can build a peaceful, just, healthy, and prosperous global community,” said the AU chairperson.

President Cyril Ramaphosa of South Africa on Tuesday commiserated with President Muhammadu Buhari on the death of his Chief of Staff, Malam Abba Kyari.

According to a statement by Ramaphosa, who doubles as the Chairperson of Africa Union, “Kyari will always be remembered for his role in strengthening bilateral relations between South Africa and Nigeria”.

Ramaphosa said: “On behalf of the people and the government of South Africa, please accept, my dear brother, heartfelt condolences on the sad and untimely passing of Kyari.

“His passing away comes during an exceedingly difficult period for all of us, as we battle to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

“The people and Government of Nigeria have lost a great patriot, Kyari was widely respected including in South Africa, for the contributions he made in building a strong nation.

“He will be remembered for his recognition of South Africa, as strategic partner of Nigeria and of the continent, and for his personal contribution to strengthening relations between our countries.

“The government and the people of South Africa join you and the government and the people of Nigeria during this period of mourning.”

He further prayed God to grant Kyari’s wife and family comfort.

Kyari, who died on April 17, left behind a wife with four children, and was buried on April 18.

Power blackouts in South Africa caused by flash flooding have shut down mining operations across the country, several mining companies said on Tuesday.

Harmony Gold, Impala Platinum and Sibanye-Stillwater, all said they had been forced to cut production since Monday owing to power shortages.

“There are very few underground mines that operated overnight and will be operating normally today,” said a spokesman for the Minerals Council, an industry body.

Eskom said on Tuesday it planned more load-shedding – a South African term for planned power cuts – due to flooding that has interrupted coal-fired power generation.

It, however, said the crisis was manageable.

Heavy rains across parts of South Africa have submerged neighbourhoods, leading to mass evacuation.

The losses to mining output – a mainstay of South Africa’s exports – highlights the economic impact of the crisis at ailing state utility Eskom, which has been struggling to keep the lights on for more than a decade.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has made turning around Eskom and other failing state firms, a cornerstone policy, but he faces opposition from unions and interests within his ruling African National Congress.

“The ongoing load shedding is devastating for the country … causing our economy great harm and disrupting the lives of citizens.

“The energy challenges in this country will not be resolved overnight,” he said in a statement on Tuesday.

On Monday the country suffered power cuts of up to 6,000 megawatts (MW) after heavy rain and flooding triggered failures at its 4,800 MW Medupi coal-fired plant.

Harmony Gold called off its underground shifts, saying it would resume as soon as Eskom could provide assurance that power supply would be more reliable.

Impala Platinum had shut production at its Rustenberg and Marula mines owing to power cuts that left it functioning at 20 per cent to 30 per cent of normal power.

A spokesman for the platinum miner said, “We certainly can’t risk with any attempt at production with this level of power.”

Sibanye-Stillwater shut all its deep-level mines on Monday, but aimed to send miners back underground for the afternoon shift on Tuesday.

“The outlook for this week is to maintain load shedding because of the weather, because of the coal handling challenges that we’ve got.’

“Also we have a number of units on unplanned breakdown that need to return.

“We believe it is a manageable crisis. Four thousand megawatts of the problem we had yesterday was due to flooding,” Eskom’s Chief Operations Officer Jan Oberholzer said.

Problems at Eskom have been magnified by delays and cost overruns at two giant coal-fired plants, Medupi and Kusile, which were touted as a solution to power woes when construction began a decade ago.

South Africa’s Gross Domestic Product shrank by 0.6 per cent in the third quarter, the second contraction this year, partly in response to uncertainty over power supply.

Its credit rating is teetering on the brink of junk because of its economic problems and the high cost of government bailouts of failing state firms.

All credit rating agencies but Moody’s have cut the country’s rating to below investment grade.

S/A President, Cyril Ramaphosa, on Monday refuted allegations that a number of countries in Africa are being led into a debt trap as they take up loans to fund a number of projects.

Ramaphosa said in his weekly address from the Desk of the President in Cape Town, after returning from the Russia-Africa Summit held in Sochi last week.

“One need only look at initiatives such as the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, which was last held in Beijing in 2018, to see that the focus is now on partnership for mutual benefit, on development, trade and investment cooperation and integration,” Ramaphosa said.

He lambasted remarks which label initiatives like the recent Russia-Africa Summit as an attempt by world powers to expand their geopolitical influence.

African countries had taken part in the summit to discuss ways of how to increase trade and cooperation between Russia and Africa.

He said the summit was a sign of the growing economic importance of Africa on the world stage.

“What we are witnessing is a dramatic rebalancing of the relationship between the world’s advanced economies and the African continent,” he said.

African countries have consistently affirmed that Africa no longer wants to be passive recipients of foreign aid, said Ramaphosa.

The president said African countries are developing and their economies are increasingly in need of foreign direct investment.

“We are ever mindful of our colonial history, where the economies of Europe were able to industrialise and develop by extracting resources from Africa, all the while leaving the colonies underdeveloped,” said Ramaphosa.

Even now, African countries are still trying to stop the extraction of its resources, this time in the form of illicit financial flows through commercial transactions, tax evasion, transfer pricing and illegal activities that cost the continent more than 50 billion dollars a year, according to Ramaphosa.

The age where “development” was imposed from outside without taking into account the material conditions and respective requirements of our countries is now past, the president said.

“China, Russia, Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) countries and other large economies are eager to forge greater economic ties with African countries.

“This is because they want to harness the current climate of reform, the deepening of good governance, macro-economic stability and the opening up of economies across the continent for mutual benefit,” the president said.

With the International Monetary Fund 2019 World Economic Outlook placing six of the fastest growing economies in Africa.

These advanced economies want to take advantage of the many investment opportunities on offer, be they in infrastructure, energy, natural resource extraction, manufacturing or agriculture and agribusiness, according to Ramaphosa.

President Buhari arrived South Africa last night to express Nigeria’s displeasure over the recent Xenophobic attacks on Nigerians in the country.

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The South African Government will finalise a clear economic growth strategy within the next few weeks, President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday as the country aims to boost confidence in an economy facing lower growth and job cuts.

In the first of his weekly messages to the nation known as “From the Desk of the President”, Ramaphosa said people were looking for signs of progress after a decade of low growth and deepening poverty.

“Building on the stimulus and recovery plan, government will finalise a clear economic growth strategy within the next few weeks,” Ramaphosa said.

Investor confidence in South Africa’s economy had been fragile, with the economic growth outlook clouded by a lack of clarity and progress on reforms.

He said the economy would this year record growth that was lower than expected and much lower than what the country needed.

Ramaphosa said government finances were stretched about as far as they could go and several industries were looking at cutting jobs.

Last week, miner, Sibanye-Stillwater, said it planned to cut around 5,270 jobs as it restructures its loss-making Marikana operations that it acquired this year.

Without giving specifics of his plan, Ramaphosa said the work was “taking place at a time when government’s finances are under great strain, and there is very little room to increase spending or borrowing.”

“This, therefore, means the government needed to spend resources more smartly, get rid of wastage and shift more resources to infrastructure investment,” Ramaphosa said.

Finance Minister, Tito Mboweni, said this month that South Africa’s economic growth was unlikely to reach the treasury’s target of 1.5 per cent in 2019 because conditions had changed and the country was facing increasing headwinds.