On Monday, 27 April 2020, at an informal settlement called Happiness Valley, SANDF Major Andre Meisner told Maverick Citizen, ‘we are not at war with the community’ and invited the writer to participate in a military mission where no blood was shed and where only bread and not bullets were fired. It felt like one of those days that could only happen in South Africa.
Civil society
South Africa’s greatest strength is its people
South Africa’s last great viral epidemic started in the early 1980s and is still with us today. But with HIV, unlike with SARS-CoV-2, we wasted 20 years before we found consensus on the need and means to fight HIV. We faced a government, under President Thabo Mbeki, that sought to disable the response and throw into question the science.
A Time of Reckoning
This morning (Monday, April 20) the Cabinet will gather for what may be one of the most important Cabinet meetings in the history of democratic South Africa. Difficult decisions, with profound consequences, need to be taken and then quickly conveyed to an increasingly restless and desperate public.
Influential coalition urges President Ramaphosa to increase child support grants
On Friday evening, just as the sun was going down, an important letter was despatched over the internet to President Cyril Rampahosa, calling for an immediate R500-a-month increase to the child support grant for a period of six months. Such a measure, the letter states, ‘is the simplest, quickest and most effective way to get cash into millions of poor households that will otherwise face food insecurity and debilitating poverty’.
The dignity of the damned
For many years I have been a fair-weather friend of two people who work on the corner of Yale and Empire Roads near Wits University in Johannesburg. One sells newspapers and the other sells flowers. Whatever changes privilege or fortune bestows on my life – disappearing overseas for a few months, moving from an office at Wits to an office in Braamfontein – I know they will always be there. Till death do us part.
These are the essential conditions needed to ensure the 21-day lockdown is a success
Tonight South Africa begins a 21-day lockdown. While there is unanimous support for the necessity of such a drastic measure it is important to keep level heads; it is also important for the President and the National Command team to be open to constructive suggestions that aim to make sure that the lockdown succeeds in its aim of ‘flattening the curve’ and drastically reducing the incidence of new infections. This article, based on conversations with leading public health experts in South Africa and internationally, must be read in this spirit.
Inclusive, empathetic communication will be a game-changer in Covid-19 emergency
One of the earliest lessons taught to us by AIDS activists is that in an epidemic, the language we use is as important as physical or medical strategies we may adopt for disease prevention, treatment and care. Language needs to be accurate, affirming, empowering, non-stigmatising and inclusive.
Civil Society at Work – Human rights organisations coordinate to maintain legal advice services
Although Covid-19 has changed our lives, forced us out of our offices and brought many things to an abrupt halt, there are some needs that don’t go away. Human rights violations of poor and marginalised people continue – and sadly, can even increase at times like this. Recognising this, South Africa’s well-respected not-for-profit legal service sector has come up with a plan.