By Mosibudi Mangena
Johannesburg – As the festive season approaches, the mood among most of us might be as gloomy and dark as a cloudy and moonless midnight.
With good reason, our spirits might be down. But we also know that clouds do dissipate and the sun does inevitably come out, lifting our spirits as it shines in the sky.
Though the now paused Zondo Commission is good for revealing the state of thievery and malfeasance in the country, the downside is the knock our confidence in those that are in positions of authority is taking.
These processions of wrongdoers squirming in the hallowed chambers of the commission might make for some good TV, but they also leave us bereft of good men and women we could trust with our public assets. But even with this, the arrests that were made towards the end of the year suggest that we might be at dawn.
It suggests that the sun would come out in 2021 when the corrupt face their comeuppance in the courts. When that sun comes out in 2021, we should see the looters of the VBS Bank and the alleged diverters of funds, meant for the removal of asbestos roofing from poor people’s houses in Free State to the Guptas, facing the music.
The steep resurgence of COVID-19 infections in some parts of the country has compounded the somberness of our mood this season of travel, joy, togetherness, relaxation and family reunions. For fear of infecting our loved ones, some of us might be reluctant to travel and socialise with relatives and friends.
It is particularly hard to imagine that we would not be able to spontaneously hug and kiss our elderly relatives, who as medical science tells us, are most vulnerable to this Coronavirus.
The same with our sickly loved ones who are in hospitals or at home with underlying health conditions.
President Matamela Ramaphosa, in his exhortations for us to protect one another, hit the nail on the head when he said this Christmas might be the last for some in our society. What all this means is that we should muster enough discipline to postpone our usual human relations gratification until the pandemic passes.
Such a postponement of gratification should also apply to our usual religious, sporting and social gatherings that might contribute towards denying some in our midst Christmases beyond 2020.
That the sun will rise in 2021 and kindle our hopes of controlling the COVID-19 pandemic, is reinforced by the images of Britons and Americans receiving their vaccination jabs against the virus.
Even though we know that as part of the developing world, SA is at the end of the queue for receiving the COVID-19 vaccine, we are sanguine enough to know that our turn is not too far away.
It should not be forgotten that SA, through its excellent scientists in universities and other research institutions, is part of international consortiums formed to develop Coronavirus vaccines and that we are taking part in trials relating to some of them.
Though the COVID-19 pandemic is an international phenomenon of enormous proportions, it is also true that as a country, SA has gone through many trials and tribulations. We will also survive this one.
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