EDITOR’S COMMENT

Of SA’s women, conspiracy theories and common sense.

“Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.” Unknown.

Women’s Month 2021 in SA

In recognition of Women’s Month 2021 in South Africa, borne out of the 9 August 1956 march on the Union Buildings by more than 20,000 women protesting against pass laws, I decided to feature a double-page personality profile on some of the (many) female movers and shakers in the country’s security industry. Their inspiring stories will hopefully encourage more women to enter the sector, and in so doing, “add their weight to the struggle for freedom, justice and equality”, to quote President Cyril Ramaphosa in his speech on 9 August this year.

The theme of this year’s Women’s Month was ‘Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights for an Equal Future’, in support of a global campaign that’s aiming for gender equality by 2030. I was heartened by President Ramaphosa’s progress update on the National Strategic Plan, launched last year with the intention of ending gender-based violence and femicide. At the same time, sadly, the killing of women continued throughout the month. Among the victims were Nosicelo Mtebeni, a fourth-year student at the University of Fort Hare, and senior Gauteng Health Manager and whistle blower Babita Deokaran. “Widespread media attention given to the killing of Nosicelo Mtebeni once again drives home the reality that women are murdered daily in South Africa,” said the outraged Department of Women, Youth and Persons with Disabilities in a statement1 . “Most statistics point to a woman being murdered every three hours. Even during Women’s Month – a month dedicated to celebrating the achievements of women, and women’s contribution to South Africa’s growth – murders like this continue unabated.”

In his formal release of the one-year progress report on the implementation of the National Strategic Plan, President Ramaphosa said that although the launch had coincided with the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic, measurable progress had been made. This includes the designation of 32 regional courts as sexual offences courts in various parts of the country, specialised training of about 3,500 family violence, child protection and sexual offences investigating officers, and the renovation or repurposing of 12 public buildings for use as shelters. “Work has been done to ensure that all police stations in our country have sexual assault evidence kits,” he added, and, “key legislation around domestic violence, bail and the sentencing of offenders, as well as broadening the scope of sexual offences and other matters is currently before Parliament.”

The country’s courts are handing down harsh penalties and sentences to those found guilty of gender-based violence, sexual offence conviction rates are improving, and government will “soon ratify the International Labour Organization’s Convention 190, which addresses sexual harassment and violence in the workplace,” he noted, and further, the first phase of a GBVF Private Sector Response Fund, which was launched earlier this year, has received pledges worth some R141 million to date.

Conspiracies and common sense

Aside from its hard-hitting impact on health and economies the world over, the Covid-19 pandemic is also dividing people into camps: the pro-vaxers, the anti-vaxers, the not-yet-decided, those in favour of and against lockdowns — and conspiracy theorists, amongst whom are some who think the pandemic is a hoax. According to an article in The Economist2 , thousands of people took part in an anti-lockdown protest in Trafalgar Square in London in late July — despite the British government having lifted most of the country’s remaining Covid-19 restrictions at that stage. “Among the speakers were Piers Corbyn (brother of a former Labour Party leader), a climatechange denier who thinks that Covid-19 is a ‘hoax’; David Icke, an author who believes that the world’s most powerful people are secretly lizards; and Gillian McKeith, an advocate of colonic irrigation who argues that a good diet is enough to stop the virus. A former nurse (struck off for spreading misinformation) compared medical staff, who have been distributing vaccines, to Nazis, and suggested they be hanged,” says the article. Words fail me.

Spurred on by factors such as the love of a conspiracy theory by some, fear of the unknown by others, or the misinformation proliferating across the globe, protests have become a spinoff of the pandemic, which has claimed the lives of 4,565,483 people, and seen 220,563,227 confirmed cases, according to the World Health Organization (WHO) as of 5.02pm CEST, 6 September 20213 .

In democratic countries, freedom of movement, belief and expression are enshrined in their constitutions — but not at the expense of other rights. Frontiers in Public Health, an organisation which was formed to ‘provide cuttingedge evidence to promote public health policies and practices that improve health on a global scale’ refers to a ‘collision of fundamental rights that’s being faced by decision makers as a result of Covid-19’. “Covid-19 requires governmental measures to protect healthcare system access for people,” its authors say, adding: “In this process, the collision of fundamental rights emerges as a crucial challenge for decision-making4.”

If ever there was a need for sensible, responsible thinking and decisionmaking, it is now. No one has the right to put other people’s lives at risk, whatever your beliefs may be about the pandemic. The facts are that there is a global pandemic raging, that people are being infected and dying from it every day, and that tried-and-tested behaviours such as social distancing and wearing masks during flu and other contagious disease outbreaks work.

“Covid-19 is just the latest in a string of pandemics that spread across the planet in the past century,” according to an article in DARK Daily, a free e-news/ management briefing platform with a focus on clinical laboratory and anatomic pathology group management5. “Since 1900, there have been four major international pandemics, resulting in millions of deaths,” it says. These include the Spanish Flu of 1918 (which infected an estimated one third of the world’s population and claimed around 50 million lives); the Asian Flu of 1957 (which caused anywhere from one million to two million deaths); the Hong Kong Flu of 1968 (which killed anywhere between one and four million people worldwide); and in 2009, the H1N1 Swine Flu (which infected 60,8 million of US residents alone.)

Influenza (‘the flu’) and Covid-19, the illness caused by the pandemic SARSCoV-2 corona-virus, are both contagious respiratory illnesses, meaning that they affect your lungs and breathing, and may be spread to others, says Dr Lisa Maragakis, the Senior Director of Infection Prevention, at The Johns Hopkins Health System and the Hospital Epidemiologist for The Johns Hopkins Hospital6 .

How anyone may argue with her that serious disease and death due to Covid-19 or the flu may be prevented, not only by vaccines but also by wearing masks, frequent and thorough hand washing, coughing into the crook of your elbow, staying home and limiting contact with people when sick, and physical distancing, is beyond me.

Last but not least, here’s another call for common sense, this time regarding protecting yourself and your company against cybercrime in its many guises. I remember the first time I received a spam/phishing email. I laid a complaint with whatever the department was in those days, and poof! – just like that, nothing happened. On an average day, I receive about five suspicious emails which range from congratulating me on winning a fortune, being selected by a foreigner who is purportedly dying of something and wants me to be their beneficiary of millions of dollars, proof of payments (just click here, they entreat…), and this one with its dodgy grammar: “Greetings, How are you doing I am writing you on behalf of your family, I have emailed you earlier on without any response from you. In my first email I mentioned about my late client Daniel, whose relatives I cannot get in touch with regarding the recovery of his deposit with a Finance Firm, but both of you have the same last name so it will be very easy to front you as his official next of kin. I am compelled to do this because I don’t want the finance house to push my client’s funds into their treasury as unclaimed inheritance. Kindly get back to me to my official email … Sincerely” (with no name or surname).

My advice to you – and it may be flawed – is block, junk and delete it and never, ever click on any email which you haven’t solicited or that you doubt in any way.

Be safe.

Ingrid Olivier, Editor

ingridolivier@idotwrite.co.za

1. https://www.gov.za/speeches/women-youthand-persons-disabilities-killing-nosicelomtebeni-23-aug-2021-0000

2. https://www.economist.com/ international/2021/09/04/from-congo-to-thecapitol-conspiracy-theories-are-surging

3. https://covid19.who.int/ 4. https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/ fpubh.2020.570243/full

5. https://www.darkdaily.com/2021/06/07/ four-international-pandemics-that-occurredprior-to-covid-19/

6. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/ conditions-and-diseases/coronavirus/ coronavirus-disease-2019-vs-the-flu