BizBriefing: Ace clings to power; Pfizer vaccine ‘deep-freeze’ challenge; Mozambique massacre; Zambia debt crisis

By Jackie Cameron 

• The ANC is making an exception for its secretary general Ace Magashule – who does not have to step down even though a warrant has been issued for his arrest in connection with corruption. At a special anti-corruption meeting in August, the ANC said party members accused of corruption and other serious crimes would be expected to step aside from their position. But, a statement from ANC deputy secretary-general Jessie Duarte indicates that this does not apply to Magashule, one of the party’s most powerful individuals. For more on Magashule, see BizNews.com.
• The Pfizer vaccine will get to rich people in urban areas rich countries first. That’s the message from Bloomberg which reports that countries will need to build from scratch the deep-freeze production, storage and transportation networks needed for the vaccine to survive. “Its production is costly, its component is unstable, it also requires cold-chain transportation and has a short shelf life,” said Ding Sheng, director of the Beijing-based Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, which has received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. The expense of deploying the Pfizer shot will likely heighten existing fears that wealthier nations will get the best vaccines first, despite a World Health Organization-backed effort called Covax that aims to raise $18 billion to purchase vaccines for poorer countries, says the news service.
• The United Nations called on Mozambique to investigate reports that militants had massacred villagers and beheaded women and children. Reuters says that as many as 50 people have died in recent days in attacks by fighters linked to Islamic State, local media including Mediafax and The Pinnacle News have reported. Violence has surged this year in Cabo Delgado – a province that borders Tanzania and is the site of a multi-billion dollar natural gas project – alarming governments across southern Africa. In September, Amnesty International accused Mozambican soldiers of committing atrocities during a crackdown on the violence, but the defence ministry dismissed the reports, saying militants regularly impersonated soldiers.
• Holders of Zambia’s dollar-denominated bonds must accept steep write-downs to allow the copper producer,  regain its footing, a leading debt relief campaigner has said. The country which is set to see Africa’s first pandemic-era sovereign default, says Reuters. Sarah-Jayne Clifton, director of the UK-based Jubilee Debt Campaign, which is pushing for debt relief for the world’s poorest countries, said creditors lent to Zambia at high interest rates knowing the debt could become unpayable.