
Book Review: ‘Tanamera’ – Noel Barber
First Published in The United Kingdom in 1981.
Who should read this book? Continue reading ‘Tanamera’ – By Noel Barber
Book Review: ‘Tanamera’ – Noel Barber
First Published in The United Kingdom in 1981.
Who should read this book? Continue reading ‘Tanamera’ – By Noel Barber
BY ALAN KNOTT-CRAIG@GOODTHINGSGUYAPR 7, 2020 70,338 0
Johannesburg, South Africa (7 April 2020) – Alan Knott-Craig wrote an opinion piece that is going viral about how we need to get our minds around why it’s possible to be optimistic about South Africa right now, even during the COVID-19 lockdown.
With all the constant negativity being shared around COVID-19 and lockdown… Knott-Craig’s opinion piece on some of the positives right now is like a breath of fresh air.
He has permitted us to repost it to our readers and we believe it is an incredibly positive outlook in very uncertain times.
Read the full piece below:
South Africa might just get lucky
In February, our country was in bad shape.
Our stock market was over-heated. We were heading for a recession. We were heading for a downgrade. And then COVID-19 happened.
Our stock market collapsed. We’re now in a recession. We’ve now been downgraded.
Before COVID-19, Cyril Ramaphosa was bogged down in ANC political in-fighting, and Eskom was load-shedding every week.
Cyril now has no political opposition, everyone is too busy scrambling to fight the pandemic.
Eskom has stopped load-shedding thanks to the national lockdown easing demand from businesses.
Before progressing, let’s acknowledge that it is possible that this is Armageddon.
Health, economic and political Armageddon. The end.
Millions could die. Millions could lose jobs. Political upheaval could ensue.
Ok, got that.
But it’s also possible that COVID-19 is the best thing to happen to SA since the 2010 Soccer World Cup. South Africa sailed through the Global Financial Crisis thanks to the state-sponsored infrastructure projects for the 2010 World Cup.
We were lucky.
By some bizarre irony, our country’s ongoing battle against TB may just be lucky too.It may just turn out that most South Africans are safe because it’s mandatory to have a Bacillus Calmette–Guérin (BCG) vaccination when they are born to prevent life-threatening TB later on.
“We found that countries without universal policies of BCG vaccination, such as Italy, the Netherlands, and the United States, have been more severely affected compared to countries with universal and long-standing BCG policies,” noted the researchers led by Gonzalo Otazu, assistant professor of biomedical sciences at NYIT.
Let’s compare Spain to Portugal.
Portugal forces BCG vaccinations at birth, Spain doesn’t.
As of 5 April 2020:
Spaniards are almost 3x more likely to get COVID-19, and 10x more likely to die.
India, like Portugal, administers the BCG vaccine to millions of children soon after birth to combat TB (tuberculosis). And like Portugal, Indian has seen a much lower infection rate, especially when you consider the higher risk of infection due to cramped living conditions and poverty.
And yet the USA, where there are no mandatory BCG vaccinations, has the highest number of infections, in spite of the USA’s being is 4x smaller, 28x richer and 13x less populated than India’s.
Thanks to South Africa’s mandatory BCG vaccination policy, we may just be less affected than many countries in the world.
We may just be able to end the national lockdown and re-start the economy.
Ending the lockdown will benefit SA in seven ways:
Ending the national lockdown will be the best thing that our government can do to save our economy.
If the positive scenario pans out, South Africa will be the equivalent of a golfer hitting a duck hook into the water, ricocheting off a submerged rock, bouncing back to the green, and the ball coming to rest three feet from the pin.
We may just be pretty damn lucky.
The whole world is in it together, but, by some miracle, South Africa might be the best place to be in it.
Sources: Opinion Piece – Alan Knott-Craig
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We all need to hear positive words about our country’s current status. Even if you do not agree with a particular opinion, its a lot better than the negative vomit that we are receiving from all over the place.
Share this if you think it might lift another person’s spirits.
Book Review: ‘Tanamera’ – Noel Barber
First Published in The United Kingdom in 1981.
Who should read this book? Continue reading ‘Tanamera’ – By Noel Barber