You’ve seen the horror story that is #HelenJosephHospital, and we all felt Tom’s trauma. SA has raised two hundred thousand rand to help Tom get thoracic surgery to scoop out the pus that has fermented in his lungs after he suffered neglected pneumonia and suffered through a two week stay in hell.

There’s no need to rehash the story, the video says it all. We are all Tom London. This is the Acumen weekly report; let’s scratch the surface on the human struggle for the right to stay alive.

You know when you get that niggly feeling in your tummy, when someone is always on your mind. I hadn’t spoken to Tom for about a month and I was actually peeved with him because he hadn’t called. I dropped a voice note saying “are you alive” plus an expletive. You know what the response was. When I spoke to Tom he was in #HelenJoseph coughing up blood and he hadn’t seen a doctor in two days.

Shortly after that conversation, Tom lost his temper and a single video hit 6 million views and #TomLondon became the biggest story in South Africa this week. He kicked open a hornet’s nest. Politicians flocked to his bedside filled with empty promises and directives on what he should and shouldn’t say. They don’t know Tom. What politicians discounted is that thousands of people have experienced worse than what Tom endured, but many aren’t here to tell their story. Social media became flooded with a #MeToo movement of another kind. #WeAreAllTomLondon.

Here are the terrifying facts: Eight-six percent of this country does not have medical aid, leaving 14% of us who can afford to go to #Mediclinic. Here’s another fact: seventy percent of our youth are unemployed. No surprise that three hundred and fifty rand won’t pay #Discovery guys. The average hospital plan costs around three grand and the minimum wage is five grand. So we have grannies dragging themselves across the floor in #CharlotteMaxeka to get to the next space in the never-ending queue that lasts days. We see people sleeping on the floor, trying to make their way through the admission process. It’s inhumane; we are not animals. But here’s the thing. We know this. Every single South African knows that a state hospital casualty is going to be hell, yet none of us say it.

Today Tom is in #Mediclinic where they’ve struck a deal to do his operation at a discounted rate of R275k. Add hospital fees and you’re at the R300k mark. That’s from the sublime to the ridiculous. Who can ever afford that? Alistair, a friend of Tom’s, opened up a #BackABuddy campaign and the rands started to drip in like a lifeline to Tommy’s veins. Fifty rand, a hundred rand and some as generous as R5k. But no massive donations from any corporate company and you want to know why? They’re too scared. This is a ticking time bomb that’s already gone off and now it’s the kindness of Mzansi that is left to pick up the pieces. I have so many questions but before I ask them, please contribute to help my dear friend. He’s a good guy, he’s scared, he helps people, he lives a simple life, he has a talent for broadcasting and he will champion the people’s cause. Please save my Tom’s life. Fifty bucks goes a long way. Here’s the link: https://www.backabuddy.co.za/campaign/iamalsotom

My own questions are not directed at #HelenJoseph and our health minister, Aaron #Esidemeni Motsoaledi. The media have done an exemplary job at bringing them to account. My question is for #Mediclinic. There is two hundred thousand rand on the table, this is the biggest media story in the country. Have a heart guys. Why are you denying crucial and critical healthcare to Tom London? He was told yesterday that he may have to go home to stop the bills rocketing. Who turns away 200k? How sick do you have to be to do that? I think public heathcare is just the start of this horrific story; private healthcare works like the mob. If you don’t have money for protection, you might die or disappear.

Last week there was no weekly report because I was in hospital, nothing dramatic just a pinched nerve. I am a big fan of Netcare’s The Bay hospital because they fixed my mom and they fixed me when I had septicemia a couple of years ago. I’m also very lucky to know some of the doctors personally. And here’s the important bit, I pay for medical aid. I have a hospital plan that is excellent, and I pay 10k per month to #Discovery for my Mom. Yes, you read that right. That’s without levies etc which is about 3k. Who has that kind of money? We don’t have it so we make sacrifices. We are lucky we can sacrifice. Eighty six percent of our nation can’t. While I was in the hospital a physio came to my bedside twice. The first time to see how I was feeling and the second time to ask me if I could walk. I could, she made me walk, I did. The bill came to R600. How? Did I receive any physio? No. Did she supply me with aids to assist my back, no. Did she teach me exercises or even give me one of those stretchy bands, absolutely not. So, her walk-by while she was on duty that took a total three minutes, cost six hundred bucks. I could have added that money to Tom’s back -a -buddy, and I did. I’m not paying you because you said hello. We are all Tom London. Why are we so frightened of the medical profession? Is it because we are at our most vulnerable?

I knew Tom was going to dominate this piece of writing and I’m unapologetic about it. Tommy, you get better now, the nation needs you and we are behind you. Corporate South Africa, Private Healthcare, Public Healthcare – wakey wakey. It only takes one person to say the emperor is naked for the façade to fall. It does not take six hundred bucks to ask a person if they can walk. #RiseMyCountry

Right, what did you miss this week? I read the news so you don’t have to and my goodness was it a tsunami of media. The top story today and likely the whole of next week is that #PravinGordhan passed away. When I think of this man, I have such mixed emotions. I used to love him so very much in the Zuma years. I actually wanted him to be president. I met him, and he was a real gentleman. My friend worked for him and said he was a man of great integrity. And then he took hold of the SOEs and we saw him sell #SAA for fifty bucks and made its debts disappear and reappear and disappear again. I guess they got to him in the end. Remember his right hand man #McebisiJonas? Well, he left politics after he turned down R600 million in cash from the Guptas. Mr Jonas knew things we didn’t know. God knows. #RIPPravinGordhan, thank you for the times you did good.

We watched shocking court cases unfold. The #PigFarmMurders become more grotesque as we learn that not one, but two women were fed to the swines. One of the accused cried in court this week as reality started to set in. This is no animal farm you heartless villains. The #MiddleburgFarmers were also in court after allegedly setting two sheep thieves on fire and then burying them in a shallow grave. The courts were churning them out this week as seven cops and an informer were charged with extortion. #Extortion, a new realisation for South Africa. We all knew; we are all Tom London, we just never say anything. I don’t think I’ve ever been stopped by a cop who didn’t try to solicit a bribe. #ZiziKodwa was back in court and that’s been postponed until October. #SenzoTrial has become far too complicated to follow, but my ears pricked up when #ChiccoTwala announced that his son Longwe was a raging drug addict and an overall wrong’un. #Longwe is a prime suspect in the case and when your dad comes out at this stage of the game and calls you names, something is awry. Will we ever know? The #VBSScandal head villain #Cholota appeared in a pretrial hearing, that is going to be lit! And then for those who are still watching, #Zuma lost his bid to recuse #BillyDowner, again. Looks like he’s going to court for real for real. Well, that’s what we are told. As a lover of court teevee, it’s safe to say I can cancel Netflix. Did you see the biggest soap opera? #MboroTrial. What on earth is this story? We all saw when the panga wielding bodyguarded pastor kidnapped his grandkids from school. But have you seen this oke in court? He raises his hands up to the roof and gives a church sermon before the judge walks in. It appears he’s managed to get to the judge, too, because the prosecution have accused her of bias and asked her to recuse herself. She didn’t. In fact, she gave this maniac three thousand rand bail. How can we rely on the judges to do the right thing in this situation? It’s like asking any person if they think that they did a bad job and should be sacked and then they say yes. If there is ever going to be bias, this is when you’re going to see it. I mean just look at ex-Judge Hlope. Do you think he’d recuse himself from anything? Not a chance china. That’s a farcical rule South Africa. Can we call Tom London?

What else? There’s too much! Tiger Brands is finally facing it’s #listeriosis showdown. That was years ago, and still this story drags on as people die. All Tom London’s. We got a loan for climate change. It’s in dollars and has the word “millions” attached to it. Why are we paying for the world’s stuff up? We don’t need more loans and contracts, we need healthcare, water and employment. The West’s consistent abuse of our continent is revolting.

And where there’s abuse, there’s politrix. The KZN government spent seventeen million on hiring cars in four months. That’s sixty-eight Tom London operations spent on flex. The #BelaBill has got the DA all tangled up as the President (at a working dinner) made it clear that changes were about to impact on our schools. Politicians are really worried about this one. To be clear the SA laymen aren’t but politicians are, that means there’s money to be funneled or they wouldn’t care a damn because listen to this stat: 95% of teachers aren’t vetted. We don’t know their background, we don’t know their employment history or if they are on the sex offenders register or not. Tom? You there? Listen to this one Tommy, #Mayibuye school was built on a swamp. It cost R100 million and it’s about to sink, a bit like my stomach. There’s a ten billion rand food tender that the minister has to “apply their mind” to. Ten billion? Come on. Who got that? And it’s food. Come on. One thing that seems to be headlines every single day is how tsotsis are being shot on the streets. #Mchunu is not taking prisoners, literally, and we’re good with that. What about #JumpingJohn? Well, he moonwalked away from Roman #Cabanac. The country was relentless, and we refused to let Cabanac the racist head up anything at all in our country. You see? We are all Tom London.

There’s so much else, but I have to move overseas, so I’ll leave SA with the #BafanaBafana and the Springboks keeping up our gees and the medals from the #paralympics broadening smiles and  #Tyla. Tyla? Oh man, if you missed Tyla, check out our YouTube channel and see why she’s the nation’s darling.

Across the waters, it was mental. James Earl Jones died, so sad. #EveryonesLionKing, #EveryonesFather. Vietnam has been ravaged by the weather. Sudan mass famine is impossible to watch and impossible to ignore. In Gaza, UN workers are collateral damage. At least 40 people were killed, eleven of them UN workers, in an Israeli designated ‘safe zone’. Read that sentence again. We witnessed the #CraterOfSilence, the gaping wound left as more lives are lost and the narrative starts to include the #WestBank where there is no Hamas. Bulldozers are used against journalists to intimidate them into silence. But we are all Tom London. We see.

Man, if you’re still reading it’s time to cheer you up. Trump vs Harris. Did you watch it? I did. It was pure gold. There were times when I laughed so hard my stomach (and back) hurt. Firstly, Trumpette wouldn’t look at Kamala. He was standing opposite her for the entire debate and not once did he even turn his head toward her. What’s that all about? He said the words billions and millions more than he lied. And according to fact checkers, in ninety minutes Trump lied fifty-five times. It was ridiculous. He said that that Venezuela was having the best crime stats of all time because they’d sent all their criminals to the US. He said that the illegal immigrants were eating people’s pets in Springfield Ohio. He said cats and dogs were going missing and these immigrants were roasting them for dinner. Please tell me you’re laughing. Kamala’s face was a picture, The memes wrote themselves as we had Kamala dressed as Marie Antoinette saying: “Let them eat cats”. Cats have been a major part of the elections in the US. Vance, Trump’s running mate, said the only people who would vote for Harris would be single cat ladies. You can imagine what happened next. CATastrophe. But back to this screamer of a debate. Trump said Harris would allow abortions in the ninth month of a pregnancy term. Her face, you should have seen it. Kamala accused Trump of hosting the Taliban at Camp David and Trump said that he met the head of the Taliban; Abdul is his name. And he said to Abdul, “Abdul, you better not do that, don’t do that again” and Abdul said why are you sending me pictures of my house? And Trump said, “you have to figure that out for yourself Abdul”. Trump also said he didn’t mind that Kamala had turned black. Guys, a comedy special by Katt Williams isn’t this funny. Does America see what’s going on? Where’s their Tom London? The emperor is truly naked. And then … Taylor Swift. Oft. I’m an Oasis fan, so I can’t with Swifties but you guys do you. Trump used AI to fake a #TaylorSwift endorsement. Yes, he did that, even Abdul knew it was fake. And then Swift, in tears with her family, justified how she can’t vote for Thumpy Trumpy. She banged on about her body, her choice, about abortion laws and said that Kamala is an empowered woman and then she did this… she completely endorsed Kamala Harris with a perfect picture of herself and her … cat. Classic. If I didn’t like her, I’d like her. Just so you know, I’m not a Harris fan either. This chick kept telling us about what she would do in the debate, but she’s actually been sitting in that office with sleepy Joe for three and a half years and she never did a damn thing. America needs a Tom London.

One more story – Kate’s back. Did you see the video and photoshoot they did? It was not very demure. Wait, I didn’t mention Diddy and Weinstein. It’s all cobblers anyway.  I’m Tonya Khoury, someone give me the weekend off and please donate any money you can to my dear friend Tom London but most importantly keep him in your prayers. We are all Tom London.