Listening to the Dr Zwele Mkhize our Minister of Health gives us massive food for thought.
It seems to me, a complete layman in the medical field, that, in common with other developing countries, the biggest problem lies in poverty stricken areas where the people are crowded together, willy nilly, because in such areas it seems almost impossible to practise social distancing, maintain an acceptable level of hygiene, eat sufficient nutritionally balanced food and to stay warm in the freezing cold of winter, with the ever- present danger of their housing being destroyed by flooding, strong winds or fire.
The writing has been on the wall for a long time for Corona virus to run rampant through such areas, and that is exactly what is happening right now. Unsanitary conditions, extreme overcrowding in homes and public transport continue and hunger continues to threaten people’s lives.
Punishing people for not wearing masks in public places or drinking illegally is not going to work. The perpetrators of these so called “crimes” are simple going to stay out of the way of police and the black market will flourish underground; supplying drinkers with alcohol illegally. What needs to be done is to educate the public continuously about practising sensible precautions such as wearing a mask for everyone’s protection, avoiding public places and punishing real criminals for breaking the law. It’s not going to be easy, but it can be done. We have already made great strides in this area, but unfortunately, I have personally seen the complete lack of social distancing in township areas, so a greater level of policing is required there to control citizens behaviour; instead of arresting citizens for not wearing masks.
It seems to me that the doctors, health workers, essential service workers and the like are doing magnificent work under extremely difficult and dangerous conditions, but their efforts are being hampered by poor governance; all the way from senior government down to municipal officials.
Our government has completely failed its people in dealing with these problems, by persisting in maintaining a top-down system of government, despite numerous attempts to institute changes by forming numerous committees, making proclamations, passing amendments to the statute book and so on. Instead of wasting enormous amounts of public money on committees, useless meetings, Command Councils, bonuses and salary increases for incompetent public officials whose agenda is mainly to line their pockets illegally; the list is endless – we should start putting proper infrastructure into the townships, fix the electricity grid once and for all, repair the township roads, support the privately run charitable institutions financially so families can be fed. Put in proper sustainable infrastructure which will fix the employment problem, create revenue whereby we can start repairing our pitiful balance of payments.
Today, I have seen a report that by once again banning alcohol sales a million more jobs are going to be lost – Wow – what a catastrophe!
TV advertising is extremely expensive. Why is so much money being spent on such advertising instead of putting more money into upgrading infrastructure?
Because of the evils of corruption, greed and lust for power all attempts to rectify these problems have hitherto failed miserably. The majority of municipalities are unable to pay their bills. The police, in tandem with the army are unable to maintain law and order, which is very helpful to the Corona virus. Corona Virus is now running our country.
It’s all a “hot mess” Incompetence is the order of the day. Fine speeches and good intentions will not solve any of these problems. Radical changes in the way our country is run are urgently needed for us to win the war; and this means that if and when we manage to pass the peak of infection, our beautiful country can be restored to a true democracy instead of the confused, incompetent mixture of authoritarianism, socialism and greed that now prevails. God bless South Africa – because as I see it at present, he is our only hope!
Recent Comments