28 May 2020

I am sure that if you asked around every person will have their own say or opinion about what they feel is the greatest travesty/ trauma/ downfall/ issue that has come about as a result of Covid 19; for some it is the ciggie and alcohol ban, for others the exercise restrictions and for others it is the fact that they cannot work/run their businesses etc.

From my side whilst all of these things are varying levels of irritating, terrible or terrifying what I think has impacted my family the most is seeing the effect this had had on my children especially my middle son Gabriel.

Gabriel is probably my most social child and without a doubt an extrovert and thus this lock-down period has left him feeling down and isolated, emotionally he has regressed and even with a firm and structured routine and although he has his brothers you can still see the change in him, in all of my kids and speaking to other parents especially those with only one child the feelings are mutual- it begs the question of how our children will fare and cope once all this is over when it eventually ends and how much or how greatly will they be affected, lastly is the effect and trauma placed on our children because of this period and pandemic worth it.

I am not one of those people that believes Covid does not exist, my father works for a hospital so I know it does but at the end of the day with all death cases being classified as Covid, proper testing not taking place in every province and inaccurate numbers and testing how can we be sure that the number of deaths is not actually 2 or 10 if many of the cases were not actually Covid cases and statistically we know that more people in our country lose their lives to TB than Covid, are we putting our economy into collapse and putting our people through all of this trauma for something that could have been dealt with effectively without all of this chaos.

Our homes have become classrooms and office spaces, our children are confused and isolated and people are starving and losing their jobs and livelihoods left right and center.

In the beginning things made arguable sense but now it seems more to do with politics, money and power than our health and the people and I for one am tired, my heart is tired, as a mom, as a South African; Mr President one could argue that you are not completely to blame I would argue that you are just as responsible for the decisions made as you are for your cabinet members and your choice of cabinet members.

If one is pressured as a government official to make decisions that are not right, that are not in the best interests of the people one has the responsibility to stand firm and speak up even if it costs the person their position they will have the respect and support of the people, those who have entrusted their safety, well-being and best interest to you. You have been undermined several times, you have lied and allowed your members to lie and scheme, to make money from illicit alliances by creating bans that do not make sense until you see that it is due to money exchange and the sole benefit of those making the decisions- your family is not and will not starve even with a salary cut what you have is far above what the majority of South Africans have- your cabinet continue their lives without the standards that the people have been forced into…. Enough is enough when will you stop it all or will you continue to hide until there is no respect or support left for you and you are then replaced by another.

You talk about hard decisions and the time to make them, now is that time, now is the time to stop being a coward and to put the people first…. Now is the time!