DOOMED, LEFT FOR VULTURES

Sir,

What is the use and importance of the COVID-19 regulations if companies and businesses will flout them, with impunity without any punishment? And if businesses are to be publicly praised for raising the prices of basic commodities, it means behind the scenes we are doomed and left for the vultures to deliciously feast on.

No wonder many big grocery stores increase the price of rice hourly. Now it is in the open that we have no government. If the nation is destroyed, they should be happy that they played an Oscar-winning role in its demise because I cannot understand why the regulations were made in the first place if some companies and businesses are let off the hook and gladly encouraged to continue with their good work. Kahle kahle kuboshwa labanjani?

Regulations

Were the regulations drafted for low class or businesses that are refusing to pay bribes? Corruption and incompetence and a ‘misty’ roadmap are what define this government. On another note, we are grateful that government will feed 300 000 emaSwati but as we have 70 per cent of the population living below the poverty line, it makes government look selective and portrays it as an entity that does not read reports nor statistics it spent a fortune on. I hope they would not divert the food parcels to fill their pantries.

Pandemic

This pandemic has brought to the fore the inefficiency and clueless approach of government. Bowled over by the potent of the virus, I sat down and thought hard about COVID-19 and its implications. Big economies are shredded and I wondered how our tax-reliant economy will survive the inconsistent lockdown. I wondered why we should always look at our neighbour and copy its fight yet we claimed to have learned and critical thinkers in our shores.
Do we have a clue of what we are fighting or we are just firing in the dark, aimlessly, thinking we can hit the target and come out on the other side victorious?

Fight

In war we need people who fight with their hearts. I thought hard and saw that the weapon to defeat this scourge lies in our brains and nifty hands but corruption and greed cloud the good and innovation progress in us. We need to study the virus and do our own clinical research and maybe engage our traditional healers, especially herbalists, and design our own antidotes. As a nation, we need to think out of the box, be robust and proactive as COVID-19 is teaching us some good lessons. If our scientists do not come up with their own clinical solutions, I think it would be for the good of our young and innovative generation by overhauling the school curriculum after the pandemic as it would be clear we have a curriculum that produces nurses and doctors than producing physicians, bacteriologists, virologists who can help us in times like these.

Researching

As a hard hit HIV country, we should be on the forefront, researching for a cure and effective ARVs than folding our arms and be over reliant on donor funds like we are in this COVID-19 mess. We need to shake our thinking capabilities and invest in intelligence than on opulence and appoint ministers who will be proactive and not reactive.

The cure for COVID-19 is in our hands but we are too lazy to think and read! We cannot be still colonised mentally, thinking the west has better solutions for our land. We need young minds to wake up and realise that one cannot fight a guerrilla war in a direct approach! Health workers should be the ones in the forefront in this war but seemingly government is pulling the strings.

Slow

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