It just became real

On 15 March 2020, it became real to me that the Coronavirus COVID-19 is here, and South Africa is not immune.

President Cyril Ramaphosa’s speech which declared South Africa is in a state of disaster and the steps government are going to implement; certainly sobered me up to the facts.

First, I need to salute our President. Well done on taking this very difficult situation and giving us much needed direction. For the first time in a long time, I felt your presence as our commander-in-chief, and I felt more equipped than I did a week ago. The next few months are not going to be easy, and there is no reason to panic. From my side, Business Events Africa has an even bigger role to play today in assisting in the industry with broadcasting the correct messaging. Our sector is open for business, the message must be ‘postpone your event but do not cancel’. This is a critical message. The industry needs to campaign together so that this message goes out to everyone, from the client to the organiser, the venue, supplier and the public. Conferences, exhibitions, meetings, events and incentives can be moved, cancelling events is the worst thing we can do for our industry. Our country is resilient and this virus will not keep us down, but we do need to work together with one voice to make things happen.

We need to stay in control of what we can control. That is our own message – stay positive and look at the long game. The difficulty is that we need to stay afloat in the timeframe, probably two months, where most things will come to a complete standstill.

These two months are where we need to assist each other and start setting up campaigns for business post-COVID-19. Create excitement for events that are coming. Remember to please postpone your event, do not cancel. This has to be the message going forward. See this as a state of hibernation and what we can look forward to when we come out of it.

Be sensible, follow our President’s instructions, and this will hopefully curb the rate of infection in our country.

South Africa is resilient – we are resilient, our industry is resilient, and I have no doubt we will come out of this state of disaster a lot stronger than before. There is a lot to look forward to: imagine all the exciting events we have ahead of us.

Stay on course and together, we will prevail.

Irene Email: gomesi@iafrica.com