Global Citizen
Flash Briefing: Eskom world’s biggest sulfur dioxide emitter; NUMSA strike; digital Covid-19 vaccine certificate launches in SA
South Africa's digital Covid-19 vaccine certificate, which features a scannable QR code, has been launched by the department of health.
- Eskom Holdings SOC Ltd., South Africa's coal-reliant power utility, has become the world's biggest emitter of sulfur dioxide, a pollutant linked to ailments ranging from asthma to heart attacks, the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air said. Eskom produced 1,600 kilotons of the pollutant in 2019, the latest year for which comparable data is available, according to the report released on Tuesday by CREA, an air-pollution research organisation. That was more than any company, and the total emission of the power sector of any country with the exception of India. While China, the US and the European Union have slashed sulfur dioxide emissions in recent years by fitting pollution abatement equipment to power plants, Eskom has only done so at one of its 15 coal-fired facilities.
- Members of the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa started a national strike on Tuesday following a deadlock in negotiations for a new wage deal. Union members didn't report for duty in five of the country's nine provinces, Numsa spokeswoman Phakamile Hlubi-Majola said by phone. The union has about 155,000 members and the strike reportedly expected to attract more than 300,000 workers, including from allied unions, she added. Numsa, one of the biggest labour organisations in South Africa, is demanding an 8% wage increase in the first year and a 2%-above-inflation increase in the subsequent two years.
- South Africa's digital Covid-19 vaccine certificate, which features a scannable QR code, has been launched by the department of health. The South African Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate System went live, without announcement, on Tuesday. Its development comes amid government's move to ease lockdown restrictions and create a certifiable proof of vaccination. South Africa's health department has not yet announced the official launch of the South African Covid-19 Vaccine Certificate System, indicating, as with the initial launch of the EVDS, that the online portal is still being refined.