By Emmanuel Nduka
France President, Emmanuel Macron has arrived South Africa to hold talks with President Cyril Ramaphosa, on the Covid-19 pandemic, trade and worsening conflict in Mozambique’s Cabo Delgado province.
Macron who is widely expected to voice his support for vaccine production in Africa, arrives South Africa from a historic visit to Rwanda, where he acknowledged French responsibility in the 1994 genocide and pleaded forgiveness.
South Africa which has the continent’s most industrialised economy, has been worst-hit by Covid, recording more than 1.6 million cases of infection, of which more than 56,000 have died.
Only about 1% of its population of 59 million have been vaccinated — most of them health workers and people aged 60 or above.
Macron’s trip was scheduled to have taken place more than a year ago, but was postponed as the pandemic worsened.
The French president’s push for the visit stems from the fact that South Africa “is a major partner on the continent, a member of the G20, it’s regularly invited to the G7 — it’s essential in the approach to multilateralism,” one of his aides said before the trip.
Macron and Ramaphosa will hold talks and then head to the University of Pretoria to launch a programme to support African vaccine production, a project backed by the European Union, United States and World Bank.
Macron’s approach is to push for a transfer of technology to enable production sites in poorer countries.
“The industry is highly concentrated in the United States, Europe, Asia and a little bit in Latin America. Africa today produces very few anti-Covid productions, and most notably no vaccine at the present time,” a Macron aide said.
Macron will also make a pitch for French business in South Africa, especially in climate-friendly sectors.
It would be recalled that French energy giant, Total last month suspended work on a massive $20 billion gas project in Cabo Delgado province after jihadists attacked the nearby town of Palma.
Before flying home on Saturday, Macron will talk to members of the French community and, like many VIPs before him, visit the Nelson Mandela Foundation.
