The strike that fizzled

 Today, March 20th was the day when South Africa should have been closed by a national strike called by the EFF (Economic Freedom Party) which is supposed to be the 3rd largest party in the country. 

Hanging out at Table Top Mountain 

This is as far up the mountain as we could go

The national strike was called to pressure the ANC government led by Cyril Ramaphosa, to resign. 

Since Mandela resigned as president of the African National Congress and Prime Minister of the country, the party has been riddled with charges of corruption, cronyism and mismanagement.

In fact, just yesterday a man who was investigating corruption was assassinated along with his son, in  Johannesburg.

I would therefore have thought that the strike would attract a lot of support, but what do I know about South African politics?

Maybe it did in other provinces but although we spent the day In Town, having been warned not to make any plans, things appear fairly normal and I did not see any visible signs of political action. 

This informal settlement is home to some 30,000 black South Africans.

This however could be because Cape Town is controlled by the Democratic Alliance which is the second largest parry in the nation and maybe they told their people not to support it.

Asian slaves were mostly Muslims and were settled in Bo-Kaap. The different color homes identify the part of Asia they came from.

We did see slightly less vehicular traffic and some businesses were closed but most workers were out. This is because, I suspect, if they want to keep their jobs, with 18% unemployment, they can’t join any strike!

Of course these considerations don’t affect the wealthy and the business owners. Tomorrow is a public holiday (human rights day!) and they just took a very long holiday.

Curious, I asked an employee at a supermarket if she would be working tomorrow and she said yes. When I enquired if she would be getting extra pay to work on the holiday, she said no. 

This is a country where the gap between the rich and poor rivals Haiti, from what I am seeing and learning.

For here, blacks still live in terrible conditions in informal settlements and on the streets, Asians in better areas and the whites in total opulence ! SMH.

A beautiful Zulu hat

Anyway as it was anticipated that the strike would be effective, we were warned not to stray too far from home. So we hung around the city.

Since we never got the opportunity to go to nearby Table Top Mountain and take the cable car to the peak, we decided to do it. Because of the heavy cloud cover however, the cable car station was closed but we got a good view of the city from where we went.

Sections of the mountain 

Section of the business destrict near convention center. Some of the developments are on dumped up land.

I have found South Africans to be among the most careful and polite drivers but we did see an accident downtown today and a lot of police at the scene.

One of the many stately churches downtown. Apartheid had the full support of most Christians.

A reasonably quiet day today for us but I got to see a lot more of downtown and even learnt about the upcoming ganja convention😊.

Other memories

This huge conference center was constructed after apartheid was abolished and is constantly in use by international organizations. It has also attracted numerous 5 star hotels.

The lobby of the fabulous Sky hotel opposite Conference Center. The robot welcomes you as you enter.
Just passing through!😊

The poor will be the real victims

As one watches the developments, discussions, and  debates taking place since the scourge of coronavirus attacked the world, it is not difficult to remember the words of Walter Bagehot, the late British journalist that 'Poverty is  such an anomaly to rich people, that it is very difficult for them to figure out why people who want dinner do not ring the bell.'

Unfortunately, the vast majority of the world's people who are going bear the brunt of this virus, are the poor and they, in reality, are close to being the majority of the world's population.

It may appear simplistic, but I have such difficulty watching the thousands of people in high-end air-conditioned vehicles, lining up all over the USA to collect food from the food banks. For these people who are claiming to be needy, have no reason to be so for they live in a country with lots of security blankets that most in the world can only dream of. 

And if those people are really having difficulty finding food, what must be the plight of the really poor people all over the world, for this virus is affecting everyone.

It seems the choices facing the really poor, therefore, may probably even boil down to slowly dying from starvation/malnutrition or taking a chance that the virus will not get to them. 

Take my own home Jamaica where under 10% of adults were up to recently said to be unemployed. But at the same time, we must recall that approximately a fifth of those who are registered as employed, include small farmers whose existence is determined by the elements. Worse off are those who hustle day by day, driving route taxis or selling anything from sweets to a few fruits to earn enough to buy food daily. 

The day these people do not do that, is the day they may not have food for their children.

Recently, a Business Process Outsourcing company, (BPO) in Jamaica was found to have a significant number of persons suffering from the coronavirus. These companies in Jamaica have been a major source of employment, providing jobs for some 40,000 people, mainly women. According to the reports, one of the main companies involved in that industry had not been practicing hygienic practices and that is where the virus spread exponentially, causing Jamaica's contagion rate to double overnight.

What bothers me though was the panic reaction from some influential quarters calling for the BPO industry to be locked down and some are even urging the government to lock down the country entirely!!

Those proposing that solution in my humble opinion, are either complete idiots, people who think what happens in the USA must be emulated regardless of other circumstances or fall into Bagehot's description of the rich as quoted above. 

For the question arises, if these establishments are closed, what will happen to the  40,000  people who depend on the paycheck earned in these establishments if they are closed?  (It is estimated that every working head of household, supports a family of 5 others in Jamaica).

Yes the rich USA and European countries can afford to lock down indefinitely,  but very few third world countries can afford to.

In Jamaica, already our tourism industry has been devastated, there is little demand for bauxite and even remittances have dried up.

As far as I am concerned, the government has been making the right moves by closing the schools,  testing as many people as they can, tracing those who they have come in touch with, quarantining selected areas where many are affected and instituting a nightly curfew.

However I don't know if closing down the parish of St. Catherine was necessary.

Yes, the problem occurred in Portmore and that is a structured community so a lockdown may work. 

But the rest of St. Catherine is not like that but more like  Kingston, where 'hustling' is predominant. 

I think the better move is to intensify the testing, quarantining and blanketing the airwaves with public education about washing hands, wearing masks and social distancing and of course the nightly curfew. 

This is the successful template South Korea followed, balancing economic concerns with the public health realities, and they are receiving condemnation from all over the world for the success of their practical strategies.

Happily, a number of entertainers have rallied to the cause, making music to encourage their fans to do what's right and that will have a great impact and we have an added advantage. This is based on studies by scientists all over the world, who are now concluding that the BCG vaccine against TB that children in many third world countries were forced to take before entering the primary school from the '50s, seems to have strengthened our immune system against this particular virus.

Walking the thin line between economic devastation and public health has to be the strategy, for cutting off the majority poor from their daily bread can only spell disaster, in both the long and short run.

I have always maintained that the worse thing that could ever happen to an individual is to be poor and sick. Right now,  the 'sick' part will not apply as far as this virus is concerned, for the vast majority of us will not be adversely affected by it.