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The president of Cosatu, Zingiswa Losi.
- Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi has apparently contradicted her own federation’s position on the rapid deployment of the Covid-19 vaccine.
- Losi asked for another look at indigenous African herbs that could be administered against Covid-19.
- South Africa will receive one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine by the end of the month.
Cosatu President Zingiswa Losi has joined a growing number of ANC and alliance leaders expressing skepticism about the benefits of using Western medicines in the fight against Covid-19, saying that South Africa should manufacture their own vaccinations.
“Some of the vaccines leave a side effect, but as Africans we have our indigenous herbs. Aren’t we raising these issues as African women to liberate South Africa and the African continent?” Charlotte Maxeke of the ANC Women’s League told the intergenerational dialogue on Thursday, during the debate on Covid-19 vaccines.
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Cosatu earlier this week criticized the government for apparently thwarting negotiations to secure vaccines for the people of South Africa, but Losi said it was not his intention to contradict the federation’s message.
She told News24 in an interview that she only intended to ask a question of her fellow panelists in the discussion about researching indigenous African cures for the pandemic. He said he referred to conventional drugs used to treat Covid-19 in general for having side effects, and not just vaccines.
“Like Africa, we have not created a vaccine,” he said. “We will get it from the rest of the world.”
She said:
“Any medicine can have side effects, but the native herbs that we get directly from the ground, we can use them. How far have we come? We have to make our own vaccine in this country, but if the time comes, where are we using our plants? indigenous? “
He said labs should start looking for indigenous cures and use their cooperation with traditional healers to do so.
“Are you including the traditional healers? [in the government programme for fighting the Covid-19 pandemic] to help distribute western medicines, or we must develop our own medicines, “he said.
Losi wore an ancestral cloth during her brief appearance at the women’s league meeting and told News24 that she is on a “journey” to become a sangoma, but could not say which path would take her.
In South Africa, there is uMhlonyane (Artemesia), which has been touted as a possible treatment for Covid-19. However, laboratory tests on the effectiveness of uMhlonyane have not been conclusive.
Despite Malagasy President Andry Rajoelina touting a plant-based drink as a miracle cure, Madagascar has reported nearly 18,000 cases of Covid-19 infections so far and 262 deaths.
In a statement, Cosatu spokesperson Sizwe Pamla said: “If vaccines are not implemented early, while other countries move quickly, those countries will emerge from the pandemic and open their economies, while isolating South Africa by closing its borders to travel and trade. with South Africa. This will be a fatal blow to our fragile economy. “
He also mentioned health workers, many of whom belong to unions affiliated with Cosatu.
“The healthcare system is also imploding, and frontline workers are becoming infected and dying at an alarming rate. The nation simply cannot afford this incompetence another day, not at the cost of the lives of thousands of workers.”
Pamla could not be immediately reached for comment.
Health Minister Zweli Mkhize announced on Thursday that South Africa will receive one million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from India by the end of this month.
