A single point; two games in a row, and the #Springboks have saved South Africa. The game was nerve-racking and it took 16 points on the semi-final score board to push us through the keyhole into the Grand Finale! We need this South Africa. We really need this and we’re going to get it. That shiny cup that’s filled with dreams. A shiny cup that says we are the champions of the world of one thing. Please can we just have one shiny cup? #Strongertogether.

It’s our top story and as you enjoy your Full English Breakfast, I get to start on a cheerful note. The Springboks versus England’s Lions brought back over two hundred thousand results across this weekend alone. Today, Sunday klapping a 1.1 million set of engagements across social media and online news. The whole of South Africa is smiling this morning. I don’t want to detract from your joy but I’m going to. But I promise you this, I’m going to ride the happy wave first.

I’m Tonya Khoury and this is #ScratchTheSurface, the Acumen Media Weekly Report.

Well we lapped it up my friends, we’d only just done the #FrenchToast jig and the #Bokke made their way into the #lionsDen. What a game hey? Hectic! People are still checking their pulses this morning cause, let’s face it, most of us thought we were going home once that match got fired up. I know nothing about rugby, but I believe Ox we need to give you a bell for your neck is that right, or was it bells? And Pollard I believe we now refer to you as: “You beauty!”. Enjoy the green and gold and try not to forget the #Proteas, apparently they won by like a gazillion points or something. See? I told you I don’t do sport.

Now, one of my favourite subjects of all time the #PublicProtector was a massive story this week. But let’s start at the beninging: we all remember #MadamBusi #Mkhwebane – the disgraced #PublicNeglector – and her silk #Dali Talk-A-lot Mpofffs. They replaced her this week with #Gcaleka, but before we even begin to unravel that coil …. If you don’t already know, then you’re never going to believe me, but Madam is now dressed in #EFFMaidsUniform with a doek to boot. That was the funniest thing I have ever seen in my life. I think it takes a special type of talent to be able to rock an Armani suit and then make a red set of overhauls look “boss”; only few possess this talent, Julius, yes, Mdlozi, yeah ok, Busi – not a chance china. Flaunting her Louis Vuitton handbag just doesn’t work with a doek – on her. At least she ended up where she belonged, hey, another heavy blow to the EFF’s voting roll. It only takes one point.

Our new PP is now being termed the #PresidentsProtector as she was soft on the #Phalaphala report and many are saying that she made the nod because she will go gently on the thieves that are on the ANC side of the fence. Before the voting session began, #GlynisBreytenbach galloped up to the podium and proceeded to tear chunks out of #Gcleka’s reputation. There were a few very low blows, including an insinuation that our new PP slept her way to the top. Not cool Glynnie, but I must be blunt, if Glynis ran our country it would work. Why does she have to say “how high” when Steenhuizen says “jump”. She was asked to retract the comments and when she refused the speaker told her to leave the house. The same happened with Jimmy Manyi. Ya, you can call him Mzwanele Manyi but to me he’ll always Jimmy the oke that raised the ANN7 baby that turned into a propaganda monster. He also picked up an overall – but only after he started his own political party called ATM and obviously made too many withdrawals. #RIPATM. Get them overhauls on Jim Jim. The EFF is a place for Zuma strays.

Regular readers will notice that I am late this week, today being Sunday. That’s because I’ve been ill. I have your typical flu but with a twist; my eyes are filled with sleep all the time, making it difficult to see. I believe it’s psychosomatic because all week I scrolled through bodies of babies and families blown to bits. I watched humans crawl on the ground, scrambling for the body parts of their families. The word #Genocide enters most headlines while bloated politicians make cast iron decisions without a second thought for the value of human life. Watching a Palestinian child murdered every fifteen minutes sucked the health right out of me and my eyes no longer wanted to see the carnage across my timelines.

I feel sick, sick to the back of my teeth as I scroll through these pages and pages of dead children. I feel sick when the UN resolve for a ceasefire is thwarted by an eighty-year-old man who doesn’t know his left from his right. I feel helpless when I see the whole world stand up and turn their back on the UN in disgust. It seems that hospitals left the war crime list as doctors operate with mobile phone lights without anesthetic because there is no medicine left under the rubble. Humanitarian aid piled up on the other side of the wall, a desperate attempt to save the desperate. I kept hearing the words “disproportionate force” and then the likes of #BenShapiro saying that in a war you “finish the enemy”. This was on the #PiersMorgan’s show, a man I despise but I’ve watched more of his show this week than I have in my life. Bassem, a Palestinian comedian gave the interview of Piers’ life (15M views and counting) as he spoke about how the aggressor plays victim and what the cost is of a Palestinian life compared to that of an IDF soldier. I’m going to paraphrase what he said: If there was no Hamas there would be no problem, and Piers agreed. Then he said let’s imagine a magical place without Hamas, let’s call it the West Bank. This place exists without Hamas and yet 2000 Palestinians are dead. He also asked that this narrative of Palestinians being terrorists must stop. He said Israel is accoladed because it warns the Palestinians when it is about to strike, he called that “cute”. I wonder if Putin warned Ukraine before he obliterated it, if that would have been ok. #Bessen

We saw this week that 1.2 million people were told to move to southern Gaza because northern Gaza was about to be obliterated. When the women and children piled on vehicles and flatbeds to get to the south they were bombed. Now that they are in the south there were fliers dropped to say they must evacuate. When is it enough? At what number of deaths will Israel say, this is a fair number? He held up a chart of twenty years of deaths on either side, each side disproportionate, each year the Palestinians wrack up more deaths than their keepers.

Look, I’m going to level with you, I was threatened, they tried to silence me too but here’s the thing; I have too many Jewish friends and we all want the same thing. We all want peace. We all want people to live with basic human rights. And here in South Africa we know more than enough about child murders and no water and no electricity and no medication and no doctors and no homes and… insert human right here… . We, and I really mean we South Africans, cannot bear this suffering around our own kin. So, of course we don’t want it for others. Today the headlines are filled with the narrative that a mosque was blown to bits in Jenin (nowhere near Gaza) and how soldiers have opened fire on the West Bank (also not Gaza). We saw the US hand over 10 billion dollars; some towards Israel’s defense and some for the people who are about to die. Biden also said that the “other team” was responsible for the hospital blast. This man honestly thinks this is a sport. He left with a promise to raise over 100 million USD for Israel. A group of men met in Egypt, apparently on a peace summit for the region. And guess who was there? Our very own Cyril the Squirrel, well of course, it’s easier dealing with 2 million Palestinians without water than 60 million South Africans, isn’t it? He will no doubt arrive in France in time for the RWC Final.

There was other news, but you had to dig for it. #LilyMine, DMRE and SAPS were found guilty of the deaths of three miners. The #AmaZulu kingdom was in court about the will. My dad used to say, with death comes the vultures. A’int that the truth? There was 70 million rands worth of cocaine seized in a drug bust and Julius lost his bid to have the gun charges dismissed, why am I still typing?

Oh, to end on a high note. There’s a character in parliament called #PemmyMojadini: I’ve written about her before but you won’t need to remember because I read the news so you don’t have to. Anyway, at the #PPVote she was dressed like a yellow canary, a very fetching outfit. And she was asked what she thought about #Glynny’s rant. #Pemmy said that one should never bring another woman down, she also said by attacking #Gcaleka, #Glynny was attacking #BlackExcellence. Guys, what is this thing about #BlackExcellence? I’ve never understood it, yet we seem to be owning it. It’s really an insult, right? You do get that? There’s no #ColouredExcellence nor #IndianExcellence. Please just stop that. Go put your feet up, there’s no #CarteBlanche so nothing is going to mess with your Sunday. Except if you turn on the news, there is that. And remember we are #StrongerTogether.

I’m Tonya Khoury and thanks for scratching the surface of the media with Acumen Media.