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Category: Acumen News

Dear #MrPresident #CoVidBluePrint

Date: 02.17.2025

Written By

Tonya Khoury

Dear Mr President,

Is this so hard?  I watched your speech that said nothing and joined your #Presidentimbizo where none of my questions were answered. To be fair I did stare at the screen forever wondering what to ask.  I didn’t want to ask anything, I wanted action because, you know what, this isn’t that hard to work out.  Perhaps I’m oversimplifying but it’s time you came up with a #CovidBluePrint, a simple action plan that can be implemented quickly.  I assume, because you asked for our help, we should be giving guidance to you the man who leads our nation, here’s some bullet points of suggestions:

  • #Schools: Just no.  Those who are privileged enough to do distance learning, great, if they fail, don’t be surprised. Those that don’t have that privilege – write off the school year, you are killing our children and teachers by sending them back to school. Use the little resource we have, to try and help the Matrics and forget the rest for 2020.  Start planning for next year, go digital, then your classroom sizes and school buildings would matter less.  Employ digital teachers for basic subjects, let’s be fair the young grades can be handled by most people who have a matric themselves.  There are 2m women unemployed today, arm them with the tools to take care of our young grades. #CovidBluePrint
  • Taxis: Use some of the 500bn to sort out our transport system, connect all the transport in a way that gets our country back to work, call in the private sector (if you have to partner with Uber or Bolt do so) and use the same vigour you’ve used on cigarettes to clamp down on taxi violence. Subsidise the industry, properly, after all, without the industry we are nothing, not even Eskom has the power the Taxi industry does, respect it #CovidBluePrint
  • #Prohibition: No again, triple the price of cigarettes and alcohol on the shelves and the consumption will slow and everyone will be happy, including your empty coffers #CovidBluePrint
  • Hospitals: Build them, like you promised.  We need them post-Covid as our healthcare system is appalling.  Put most of that 500bn into that and you can then employ many of the 3m people that lost their jobs.  They don’t have to be doctors and nurses just let them handle admissions, cleaning, security whatever there is that doesn’t require a medical certificate.  Start-up small courses that allow people quickly to assist in the healthcare department. #CovidBluePrint
  • Protect women and children at all costs, use the army and the cops for that, not for roadblocks! That shouldn’t be a blueprint that should be mandatory.
  • Put the water on, everywhere, start today, employ people to do that with your 500bn – there are 3m waiting in the queue that will do anything literally, anything just to be fed. Give us work! #CovidBluePrint
  • #SASSA and UIF: Pay them on time, no excuses, process applications immediately, employ some of the 3m to do that, these are remote admin jobs that don’t require any sort of certification. #CovidBluePrint
  • Travel and Family visitation, if you are over 21 you are an adult, you take responsibility for your bubble, you do the best you can. What other alternative is there? This horrific virus is here to stay for years by the sound of it.  Let us control our own bubble of #NewNormal.

And another thing, never waste a good crisis, come out with your swords, and slash your cabinet.  No one will stop you; we are sick to death (literally) of fraud and corruption. You could fire the lot and we will give you a resounding round of applause.  #CabinetReshuffleNOW

Stop having meetings about meetings. Stop crying and get cracking!

Sincerely

#ActiveCitizen #FeedRuralKZNFounder #MediaAnalyst #SouthAfrican

Tonya Khoury

In other news this week:

My week started with the death of #ZindziMandela, I couldn’t even read the story, the tears just rolled down my cheeks.  Another woman fallen.  Another hero struck down. I still have not read a full article or watched a full news insert about #MaZindzi my heart cannot bear it. That was just the beginning of the week. Then I learnt of two people I know well, that died and many I hold dear have fallen ill.  Min #Mkhize is right, we are in the #CovidStorm and everyone knows someone who has succumbed to the virus. Others filled my timeline as I read about the death of struggle stalwart Thomas #Manthata. Why, still in 2020, do I not know my true South African history?  My “white version” of #BantuEducation robbed me so much, that someone needs to die for me to know what they contributed to my country?  My personal hero Catherine Constantinides tested positive.  But the #covidStorm did more than take lives and make people sick, it took 3m jobs, yes THREE MILLION and 75% of those jobs belonged to our precious women, is there no reprieve for my gender?  Then I read that a 1yr old and a 5yr old were allegedly raped by a 14yr old. What headlines are these? #CryTheBelovedCountry.

My highlight of the week was Razzmatazz, telling us how football and politics are the same thing and basically, we should come and try to do it better and that corruption is everywhere like it or not.  Try the #CovidBluePrint #mbaks? I must say I adore Minister #FearFKL, I don’t know why I can’t help it.  I think it’s because he’s funny, but it might be that he just shoots his mouth off. All that love was spoilt when his real message was heard, taxis must add a fitting to their windows to keep the windows 5cm open.  I can just see the conversation between the taxi driver and the cop that brought in this new law, the driver had the window shut but just opened it by a crack because it’s absolutely freezing and when the cop stopped him he argued that the window was in fact open.  Oh, South Africa, how on earth does a 5cm crack in a 100% filled taxi make any #covidSense?

McBride head of SSA, I’ve always liked McBride.  #SAA got bailed out, well we need an airline in #Covid times, obviously.  Couldn’t this have just waited until next year?  No #loadshedding he said, not for the rest of the week he said, #Truter I’ve been on generator more than I’ve been on that thing called #EskomWhatWhat, please go eat a #chocolatelog

Another highlight was seeing #gumede finally go to court, where was the live stream, I looked, dololo?  I wanted to see the justice I had been waiting for.

Across the waters, I learnt the impact of the words #Entanglement #GoyaBeans, Huawei, #RussianHackers and spies…no this is not a bad #Tarantino movie, this is the rest of the world’s headlines

 

Tonya Khoury

Tel:  +27 738745377

@thisistonya

#FeedRuralKzn – An Acumen Media Initiative

www.acumenmedia.net

 

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