Yesterday Donald Trump released a statement that he had suggested freezing funds to the World Health Organisation in fears that they were withholding information regarding the coronavirus outbreak that originated in Wuhan, China.
“They called it wrong. They called it wrong. They really, they missed the call. They could have called it months earlier. They would have known and they should have known and they probably did know, so we’ll be looking into that very carefully.” said Donald Trump
In response to the statement made by President Trump, Ramaphosa has defended the work that the WHO has carried out during the coronavirus crisis “Cyril Ramaphosa reaffirms his appreciation for the exceptional leadership of the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, from the very earliest stages of this unprecedented global health crisis.”
Overall the AU recognises and appreciates the good work that has been undertaken by the WHO and notes with a sense of satisfaction the various initiatives and measures that are continuously undertaken by the organisation to mitigate the spread of the pandemic such as mobilising resources, sharing the real-time information and providing the technical and material support.
The Presidency, South Africa
The African Union have also backed the World Health Organisation with “unwavering support”, they have stated that they appreciate the work and support they provided during the Ebola outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The EFF condemn Trump’s statement
The EFF Party has also released a statement and said they “condemn USA’s shameful attempts to remove Dr. Tedros Adhanom as Director of WHO”. In the statement, they have said that Donald Trump and Boris Johnson have “downplayed the significance of the coronavirus” and if the early warnings were acted on many lives would not have been lost.
The Economic Freedom Fighters went on to say that Trump’s administration is struggling to fight COVID-19 and that they are unprepared as this enemy cannot be beaten by guns and drones “which is what the USA is good at”.
“This is not the time for ‘us against them’. The enemy is not a foreign country or people; it is a virus that will certainly kill us all” said EFF
