The media has moved like lightning this week and I struggled to keep up as one minister after another MEC after another spokesperson made media headlines with action plans for #Level3.
Imagine trying to manage 50+Million people’s health and their return to work after a two month pause on the economy? I’m so glad that’s not my job and I want to salute most of the officials involved for really working in unchartered territory. We are not New Zealand or South Korea but we are comparable in that we had a successful #lockdown.
#Level5 did what it set out to do, #FlattenTheCurve. We not only flattened it we didn’t even get a curve. Magnificent work SA – right? Wrong, the nation doesn’t agree, we seem to have forgotten what we achieved and now that we had a successful flattening of the curve we are giving the government the middle finger. To be fair to the audience it is not #level5 that did it, it is #Level4 and now #Level3 hangs in the balance like a trapeze artist and we hold our collective breath.
We can’t continue the #lockdown, this much is obvious but now we have the challenge of getting a whole nation to #ChangeBehaviour in the #NewNormal and that is why every government official is hard at work after many years and I like it. Yes, we are making mistakes hand over fist, and yes, the impact on the nation is devastating and yes it worked. Now we need to put our egos and privilege aside and stand together to pick up the pieces of our economy and build our new lives.
I’m an optimist, right? No, in fact I have never felt so pessimistic in my life, but I am a realist and when I see the #ScientistWars unfolding in front of me with #GlendaGray attacking #Mkhize based on ego, it makes me fearful. We need science and we need clean science, I’m not sure why I thought fraud, corruption and ego left the room with a lab coat and a microscope because I was wrong. #DrGray has complained she was #SingledOut, why don’t you finish the sentence Glenda …”because I’m white” – right?. That is what you are intimating. If you’re reading this, you were singled out for saying (from a position of high authority) that the #Lockdown was not based on #science. Minister Dr Mkhize made it clear that all 50 advisories supplied by #GlendaGray and her crew were part of the #Covid response action. #Mkhize literally wiped the floor with #Grays comments only for her to retort that she was referring to #regulations not the lockdown itself, particularly the #closedToeShoes regulation! Is it more like you didn’t make the papers for your ego honey? Perhaps you should click those shoes twice and say there’s “no place like home” because I assume you are in the privileged category and have one to go and #selfDistance at with your open shoes.
Probably the biggest news this week was the schools, #AngieMotshekga delivered a power address about the way forward for #BasicEducation, which was a pleasant surprise for many. Her impactful message has brought a host of fear not criticism. Over 1500 schools were vandalised and historical problems of sanitation are a major concern. #grade7 and #Grade12 will be returning in June and the nation are unsure of the #NewNormal for schools. #SchoolFees is another topic that came to the fore as many who were struggling to pay school fees before are now unable to buy food. Many children were eating from schools putting a larger burden on the community. Here we go dear South Africa, we must put our children at the coal face of the virus and in the hands of our education system. This is just one sector of our lives that has changed to a #NewNormal and it’s not pretty.
Open any social media page or newsroom and you will find horrific numbers of infection rates that are rising at a frightening rate. Well, I say frightening but most seem to feel that the level of testing is directly correlated to the infection rate and if the same level of testing was put across the country (as is done in the WC) we are likely to see significantly large numbers. There is almost an indifference to the numbers as SA doesn’t see any other way to move forward but to face the inevitable. The message should be clear here, the numbers are screaming to you to #ChangeYourBehaviour (if you are able). Those that have the privilege to self-distance must those that don’t need major help. Yes, #SelfDistancing is a privilege, just think about that for a second.
The impact of #CoVid19 has brought to light journalists that are testing positive, #Implats have experienced a major event this week with positive cases and #Denel didn’t pay salaries, this is our #NewNormal.
After a spate of publicity from the #DA and #EFF with criticism of the government’s #LockdownRegulations, the President called everyone into his (virtual) office and listened to the parties ranting. Apparently, he nodded. I feel for #CyrilRamaphosa, everyone a critic no one a solution provider.
#DavidMakhura came out to say any business that doesn’t comply with #PPE specifications will be shut down. Can someone help these businesses get themselves ready for the #NewNormal instead of threatening them?
You might have missed it but #JacobZuma dropped his defamation case against #DerekHanekom and #SARB cut the #RepoRate by 50 basis points. The #PublicProtector has been working through #Lockdown as she releases findings on the #AsbestosAudit.
Just when I had my fill of politics and #Covid19 a story that doesn’t relate to any of them has pushed through to the top of the pile #BiancaMustFall (and a host of other #MissSA contestants). I have a question that I ask every year, why are #BeautyPagents a thing? Don’t we have #Instagram for that now? The second question is to the people that are defending her as she was 14 at the time when she posted a picture of a schoolboy saying that he was so black they needed a white background in the photo! Here’s the question, are you ready? What was the impact on that 14-year-old boy’s life after being bullied by a racist? My nephew is 13, firstly he is not on Twitter (as he shouldn’t be) and secondly, he would be calling me up for using the word black in this write up and insist that I use the word brown. When I was 14 our classmates were rallying for Mandela to be released to the point that one of us got suspended. And again – I feel like I’m a broken record, I’m going to say it louder for the back:
“If you won’t put it up on a permanent billboard on the N1 in Johannesburg, don’t put it up at all”. Social media will always be there no matter how much praying you did Bianca! What about an apology to the child you bullied, surely that’s what kids are told to do when they do something disgusting and despicable?
I’m so over horrible news that I think we all need cheering up, let’s talk about #FartingOnTV, oh it’s like #MaxHurrell was waiting in the wings as he launched his follow up to #WhenPeopleZol. We all watched it and we all cringed when #SindiswaGomba farted right? Well apparently, she didn’t release gas guys, the Eastern Cape Health Department issued a statement to the effect. What happened was, are you ready?… She apologised for the bumbling her words not for poeping on TV and SABC put the farting machine in the background? You can’t make this stuff up, but it will cheer you up.
Here’s really good news, this week, #SantaShoebox Project, SUBZ, Unilever and Rise Against Hunger all donated food, essential sanitary wear and sanitizers for 12 schools in our area. This week every child in #Mbazwana will eat. After a media show, the #SAJBD delivered a lifesaving R50,000 that will feed at least 600 people for one full month. We may be in a weird SA right now, but our South African spirit will always save us #Ubuntu #PeopleNotPolitics, thank you for helping to #FeedRuralKZN!
