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

Making headlines: Ramaphosa wants special task team to investigate those implicated in Madlanga Commission report; ActionSA won't support no confidence motion against Dada Morero; And, new malaria vaccines helped Ghana slash child deaths but Trump cut aid

Ramaphosa wants special task team to investigate those implicated in Madlanga Commission report

President Cyril Ramaphosa today directed Minister of Police Firoz Cachalia and National Commissioner of the South African Police Service general Fannie Masemola to constitute a special investigations task team to investigate prima facie evidence of wrongdoing against people identified in the Madlanga Commission’s interim report.

The Commission, chaired by retired Constitutional Court Justice Mbuyiseli Madlanga, assisted by Advocate Sesi Baloyi and Advocate Sandile Khumalo, submitted its interim report to the President in December.

The commission has made several referrals concerning allegations of criminality, corruption, fraud, murder, perjury and other unlawful actions by officials and officers in the employ of the South African Police Service, City of Ekurhuleni and the Ekurhuleni Metro Police Department.

Ramaphosa said he accepted the recommendations made in the interim report and welcomed the referrals by the Commission for immediate criminal investigations and urgent decisions on prosecution, as well as recommendations on the employment status and recommended suspension of some individuals.

The President said the establishment of a special unit is critical to ensure that these investigations take place urgently.

ActionSA won't support no confidence motion against Dada Morero

ActionSA will today abstain from the motion of no confidence being tabled against Johannesburg Mayor Dada Morero, arguing that the motion risks becoming “another round of musical chairs in the mayoralty, with no tangible benefit for residents”.

Last week, the Al Jama-ah party proposed the motion, which the United Democratic Movement seconded.

Last year, Morero survived a motion which was filed by several of its coalition partners.

The party said while Morero’s administration had been “objectively disastrous,” there was no clear or credible alternative plan for a better government.

ActionSA said it is prepared to participate in constructive efforts with parties to improve governance and service delivery but claimed that other parties seemed “singularly focused on power struggles and positions, using these motions to that end”.

And, new malaria vaccines helped Ghana slash child deaths but Trump cut aid

New vaccines are helping Ghana approach a long-sought goal of ending child deaths from malaria, demonstrating the potential of the shots to drive back a disease that kills nearly half a million young children every year in Africa, according to the international vaccine aid group Gavi and the country’s health service.

But aid cutbacks by the Trump administration and other wealthy governments could mean fewer children benefit on the continent where malaria hits hardest, Gavi warned.

Ghana is among the countries that had already made significant progress reducing malaria mortality by scaling up interventions such as the distribution of bed nets treated with insecticides and improving access to both preventive drugs and prompt treatment.

Two new vaccines - one developed by British drugmaker GSK, the other by Oxford University and the Serum Institute of India - are helping close the remaining gap.

Gavi is currently the only organisation purchasing malaria shots for African nations. It expects it will be able to spend just over $800-million on the programme over the next five years - 28% less than the expected need - after falling $2.9-billion short of its overall funding goal for the period, according to internal estimates prepared for its board of directors in December.

An additional 19 000 lives could be lost as a result due to lower vaccination rates, the documents say. The estimate, which has not previously been reported, is based on modelling of the vaccines’ impact by researchers at Imperial College London and the Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute.

That’s a roundup of news making headlines today

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