Ramaphosa reflects on tenure as AU chair as it comes to an end

As his term as the Chairperson of the African Union comes to an end this week, President Cyril Ramaphosa is looking back at his tenure, which saw him preside amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In his weekly newsletter released on Monday, 1 February 2021, Ramaphosa describes his appointment as a “baptism of fire” – particularly because he assumed the chairmanship of the continental body on January 2020, not too long before COVID-19 was declared a global pandemic.

“The priorities we outlined for our term, among them furthering peace and security, the economic empowerment of women and deepening economic integration, had to be immediately and dramatically reoriented to deal with the pandemic,” Ramaphosa said.

Ramaphosa: The African Union actively responded to COVID-19 pandemic

He said as the AU, their most pressing task was steering their focus towards the COVID-19 pandemic. The continent has undoubtedly not been exempt from the devastating impact of the pandemic, having infected more than 3.5 million people and 88,000 deaths.

“It has been a health, humanitarian, social and economic crisis for African countries, most of whom are inadequately resourced to manage a health emergency of this size,”

President Cyril Ramaphosa

“And yet, as unprecedented as the nature of the pandemic has been, so too has been the manner in which African countries have come together to fight it”

The president said as the AU, they didn’t sit idly and let COVID-19 wreak havoc in the continent. He said they swiftly developed a continental response strategy, driven by the Africa CDC and regional task forces.

Ramaphosa said it was not lost on them that the continent would be affected by the pandemic as most would not have the resources needed to meet the public health challenge or to protect their economies.

“We therefore agreed as African countries to appoint several prominent Africans as special envoys, who would engage with international funders and multilateral institutions to make the case for financial support and debt relief on Africa’s behalf”

With Africa having secured 270 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, via the COVAX facility, Ramaphosa said this was a collective effort which now means the continent would get its fair share of jabs.