BILL, RIOTS AND COVID VACCINES.

 

The last month or so has been nothing short of life changing.

First my brother Bill passed away, then Jacob Zuma was sent to jail, which is a huge shift in the behaviour of the ANC. His incarceration led to mass riots, widespread looting and in the end, what amounted to a coup attempt. I had my second Covid vaccination.

On the 6^th of July 2021 my dear brother, 3 years my senior and lifelong friend passed away. His end came suddenly. He had just come back from an exciting two week visit to his daughter, Shani in Mozambique. On his way home he visited a friend in Salt Rock then spent a pleasant three days visiting me and left for home on the 30^th of May. He had had a really good time in Mozambique and was planning a trip to the Cape to see his son Shelbi who had recently moved down to Riebeek Casteel. 37 days later he was dead. He was involved in a motor accident and never recovered from trauma to the head and chest. I was on my way to his memorial service in Greytown on Saturday 10^th of July but rioting and road closures in Pietermaritzburg turned us back.

I miss him already and think I will for the rest of my life. It is not easy to accept that I will never see him again.

On Wednesday, 7^th July Jacob Zuma, our former president reluctantly handed himself over to the authorities to start a 15-month prison sentence handed down by the Constitutional Court, for refusing to appear in front of the Zondo Commission (A judicial commission of enquiry) to answer questions relating to state capture involving the Gupta brothers. This incarceration was enough to send first KwaZulu Natal into chaos followed shortly thereafter by Gauteng. Both areas have large populations of Zulus. The wanton destruction and looting were unprecedented in the history of SA. Over 160 shopping malls and certain factories and industrial warehousing sites were targeted in what appeared to be a well-planned strategy to destabilize the province and even possibly the nation. Some conspiracy theorists are now suggesting that this was a coup attempt to get rid of Cyril Ramaposa, our president. I doubt this because it was too narrowly confined to KZN and Gauteng, notwithstanding the fact that over 50% of SA’s economic activity takes place in these two provinces. It seems to be a resumption of the faction fighting that plagued the province, KZN, just after independence in 1994. Our president addressed the nation on the 16^th and confirmed that an attempt had been made to destabilize the country, but the popular uprising anticipated had not occurred. Maybe our people are growing up and are not so easily suckered into helping the strong man dictator to take over. Maybe democracy does have a chance to succeed in SA after all. It is not over yet. Time will tell.

It is now the 18^th of July and thing have quietened down to almost normal in Amanzimtoti. Some reports of sporadic looting at selected sites still come in, but the army have now arrived with 25 000 men. They are not allowed to shoot but their mere presence should lend some support to the overstretched police force. It remains to be seen what the attitudes of the locals will be in the weeks to come. We have not seen open racial antagonism yet, but the local citizens of Toti were called upon to protect their own. The police were nowhere to be seen most of the time. Our street, Kingsley Terrace, a cul-de-sac was barricaded and manned 24 hours a day and still is. The boys are angry but to our delight the local Induna has stepped up and he and a large contingent of Zulu men and women are sharing the duty of protecting our streets and town from attack. Audrey my good wife takes coffee for at least 10 men every morning early and has cook’s supper the same number of men on two occasions now. She is a really compassionate woman.

In fact, the masses are hungry. The country is in full lock down again due to the Covid virus. Many thousands have lost their jobs. All restaurants, pubs, bottle stores and taverns are closed. Many companies and municipal offices are closed. Thousands are out of work with no income. They are starving, black and white people alike. A chance to loot and run riot must have been seen as a welcome relief, even at the risk of being shot and killed, by the unemployed. Ramaposa has been accused of being weak and reacting too slowly to the mass destruction of the infrastructure of KZN and Gauteng. A final count still must still be made but can you imagine the outcry if a single shot had been fired, a single life lost at the hands of the security force. The Marikana fiasco still looms large in the minds of many SA’s. Cyril would not dare give the shoot to kill order. He was thus forced to sit quietly and ride it out. He has just addressed the nation. He admits the country was ill prepared for this type of uprising. He was incredibly lucky that the population did not revolt against him. He says the security forces have identified the ring leaders and are busy apprehending them. He asks us all to help clean up the mess and keep doing so. He wants a clean country. ?

I hope he acts more decisively against the guilty than he did against the looters. This insurrection and the response by the local population has, I am sure, hardened the attitudes of a lot of citizens of this province. I can only hope it does not erupt into further violence weeks and months from now.

This disruption of the normal routine of life has brought the essential programme of Covid vaccination in the province to a halt. I was lucky in that I was scheduled to get my second Pfizer jab on Friday the 9^th of July, just a day before the rioting got totally out of hand. I am now fully inoculated.

Life has been hectic the last two months. A lot has happened notwithstanding the fact that we are in lockdown, and I cannot move out of the house. I got a bright idea and patented it. My patent attorney is busy processing the patent so I cannot elaborate at this time without getting you to sign a non-disclosure agreement. I will tell you about it once I have the provisional patent in my hands. A lot of work still needs to be done if I want it to become a profitable venture.

Life is never dull in Africa. Let us hope it never gets as exciting as these last few weeks were though.

As for CNM, I have not had time to worry about that recently. Sorry, only joking.

It is mid-winter. My worst time. I get even weaker when I am cold although I breathe a little easier. Not much better mind, just a little. I use my Vannair in the evening before I go to sleep, out of fear of not sleeping well rather than any positive, tangible reason. Not in the morning whilst the temp remains around 20 deg C. Rolling over in bed with 3 blankets on me is difficult but still manageable. My biggest problem is getting my legs up onto the bed from a sitting position. If my legs get cold, they will not swing up and I must use my trusty rope to lift, especially the right, second leg up. If I succeed, then I struggle to get the rope off my foot again. I just cannot win. It has only happened 3 times this season, but that is more than enough. I must always keep my legs warm.

 I just miss my brother.

End.

The 3rd wave of Covid-19 and a patent.

 

3^rd May 2021

THE SECOND WAVE

I am ecstatic. Kimberly Bashaw phoned from Chicago to tell me that she has read my CNM book and finds that we have a lot in common. Kimberly hosts the CNM Facebook site and is a force to be reckoned with in the USA. She has referred my book to the Mayo Clinic

3^rd July2021

My how time flies when you are busy. And I have been busy.

Covid-19 initially eased up, but the 3^rd wave struck mid-June and we have been in stage 4 lockdown since 28^th June. All restaurants, taverns are shut. They can supply takeaways only. Bottle stores are totally shut. Provincial borders are closed, public meetings, such as church services, movies, clubs etc. are banned.  The government is trying not to shut industry and business down but many government departments, libraries etc. are shut.  Yesterday over 24270 people were diagnosed and over 303 died of covid-19. This thing is serious.

I was inoculated with the Pfizer vaccine on the 27^{th of} May. I get the 2^nd booster on the 8^{th of} July, 6 weeks later. I did not suffer any side effects, but Audrey complained of a sore arm for over 2 weeks after the jab. This jab will not stop you from catching the virus but the symptoms will be less they say.

SA has recorded 2.2 million cases since 28^th March 2019, 1.77m have recovered fully, 61332 have died. Worldwide 183 million have been diagnosed and 3.97 million have died. This is bad.

Bill, my brother had a motor accident on the 9^{th of} June and has been in hospital since. He has concussion and now stage 4 lung cancer. The prognosis is not good.

I recently scrapped the idea of writing and publishing a 3^rd book and took out a patent for a “Back-saver” chair instead. The patent application was submitted to CIPC, the patent office last week. I will say more once the patent has been granted and registered.

I continue to write articles for USCAA, the July offering entitled, “Famous artists and their mothers”

Almost every artist that you look up has had a stab at painting their mother. Whistler is most famous for the side on view of his mother but there are many more. A lovely subject.