<p><strong>South Africa's COVID corruption probe:</strong> South African special investigators <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-safrica-corruption/south-africa-investigates-covid-linked-corruption-of-290-million-idUSKCN25F1M6" target="_blank">allege</a> that government institutions, including the capital city's health department, cut crooked deals for coronavirus-related tenders — including for PPE procurement, quarantine sites and disinfectant equipment — totaling a whopping $290 million. It's the latest challenge for <a href="https://www.gzeromedia.com/south-africa-ramaphosas-moment" rel="dofollow" target="_self">President Cyril Ramaphosa</a> who took over as head of the African National Congress party (ANC) in 2018 after the ouster of the party's disgraced former leader <a href="https://www.gzeromedia.com/what-were-watching-yemen-breakthrough-turkey-vs-russia-arresting-zuma" rel="dofollow" target="_self">Jacob Zuma</a>. At the time, Ramaphosa pledged to root out corruption, bring "ethics into politics," and revive the country's battered <a href="https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=ZA" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" target="_blank">economy,</a> but attempts at reform have so far proven elusive, largely because of dysfunction and competing factions within the ANC itself.</p><strong>A different way to fix the WHO:</strong> US President Donald Trump isn't the only one who thinks the World Health Organization is too weak, poorly funded, and beholden to national interests to do its job well — it turns out France and Germany agree with him. But unlike Trump, who is<a href="https://www.gzeromedia.com/is-trump-right-to-go-after-the-who" rel="dofollow" target="_blank"> walking out on the organization</a>, Paris and Berlin are proposing massive reforms that would give it more money and stronger oversight powers, according to a Reuter's <a href="https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-who-reform-exclusi/exclusive-germany-france-want-more-funding-power-for-who-as-part-of-sweeping-reforms-idUSKCN25F1TT" rel="noopener noreferrer dofollow" target="_blank">exclusive</a>. The details of the proposal are yet to be ironed out ahead of discussions as soon as next month. We're watching to see three things. First, how do Germany and France plan to get countries to pony up more dough in the middle of a global recession? Can they really give the WHO more muscle to <em>force</em> member states to do things that are in the interest of global public health? And lastly, are the skeptical Americans and the Chinese going to agree?
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