Day Six: This Week in Review

I love Saturdays. Doesn’t matter where you are in the world. I love brunch (though the chef looked at me like I was speaking Polish when I asked for an egg white omelet), I love reading the paper, I love catching up on the week. It was especially nice today to laze by the pool, read a novel and have a good work out at the gym. Jeez, I could be anywhere in the world, n’est pas? But sometimes you need to decompress.

I realize this blog has been very Cotlands oriented so I thought I’d use today to do a “Week in Review” – some of the news stories you may or may not have heard of coming out of South Africa. Enjoy.

Rugby

Right now there is no HIV/AIDS in South Africa. There are no problems with crime, health care is just fine, poverty, access to education – bah! Nope, none of this matters because every single person is living, breathing, eating, sleeping...rugby. Tonight, every person with access to a television is going to be watching the Springboks take on England in the World Cup Final. I’m a little afraid. We have a big private function planned with a traditional South African barbeque and a not-so-traditional big flat-screen TV reserved. As much as I’m denying my heritage, I’m rooting for South Africa. I think that’s partially motivated by self-preservation – I’m a little afraid of what might happen if they lose. Mind you, do they loot and riot here even if they win, like what happened in Montreal when the Habs won the Stanley Cup back in 1994? It doesn’t help matters that I always happen to be front and centre when looting and rioting occurs: I was in Montreal that night, and I was in Fiji during the 2000 coup with – yup – lots of rioting and looting. Hmmm…

Lucky Dube Shot Dead

The headline of the Saturday Star today screamed “WIN IT FOR LUCKY.” On Thursday night, Lucky Dube, a reggae legend and one of South Africa’s most famous musical exports who has shared the stage with Peter Gabriel and Youssou N’dour, was shot dead in a failed hijacking attempt. Spookily, he wrote of his fear of being killed by hijackers in his song Crime and Corruption. The lyrics go:

Do you every worry about your house being broken into?
Do you every worry about your car being taken away from you?
Do you every worry about leaving home and coming in a coffin, with a bullet through your head?
So join us and fight this.

It is tragic, but it is also commonplace here in South Africa. The crime rate is sickeningly high. According the papers, one in three South Africans have been robbed. The murder rate jumped 2.4 per cent between April 2006 and March 2007 with 19,202 murders recorded. Yikes. That doesn’t even include the number of rapes, robberies and break-ins. As I mentioned in an earlier post, friends of ours have been broken into three times in two months – the last time the robbers badly beat up a woman who works for them. I’m being extra careful, mummy, don’t worry.

The timing, with the world’s eyes focused on South Africa being in the Rugby World Cup, is a little awkward. One journalist encouraged the rugby teams to wear black armbands tonight to honor Lucky Dube; other experts quoted – who didn’t want to be named – said all that will do is highlight South Africa’s crime problem. Either way, this is a prelude to the 2010 Soccer World Cup, being held in nine cities throughout South Africa. One of the biggest concerns from everyone, including FIFA, is South Africa’s crime rate. All the editorials are calling on the government to get off their arses and do something. Good luck with that. Just look at all my blogs this week about HIV/AIDS. I don’t mean to be cynical, but I don’t have a lot of faith in the South African government.

Freedom of the Press

Media Freedom is a subject close to my heart. In Fiji, I worked for a media organization that was the South Pacific representative for IFEX (International Freedom of Expression Exchange) and was highly outspoken about media freedom. So when I see that the South African government is threatening to arrest Sunday Times editor Mondli Makhanya and his deputy editor for illegally being in possession of the Health Minister’s health records, I get a little worried.

The Times ran a story a few months ago saying that Health Minister Manto Tashabalala-Msimang’s and her doctors hid a serious drinking problem so she could receive a liver transplant. Apparently, she was boozing right before the transplant, and when she’d been in hospital a few years before for a shoulder operation had her guards smuggle her in whiskey. This is the same health minister who stalled the official roll out of the ARVs and repeatedly, officially stated that a healthy diet with a focus on ginger and garlic was the key to fighting HIV and AIDS. This is the same government who sacked Deputy Health Minister Nozizwe Madlala-Routledge this past August for – get this – traveling to an AIDS conference in Spain without permission. AIDS activists say she was sacked because she was not afraid to criticize the government. The same government headed up by President Mbeki, notorious for denying AIDS is caused by a virus.

The sad thing is that while The Boozer was off sick, the Deputy Health Minister actually did something about the AIDS crisis. She built bridges with the AIDS and medical community – she mended the sour relationship with the Treatment Action Campaign, South Africa’s highest profile campaigners for those living with AIDS. She was one of the driving forces behind an aggressive five-year plan to reduce the number of new HIV infections and extend treatment to 80% of those living with AIDS by 2011.

They sacked her. And kept the alcoholic. And they are “investigating” the newspaper that broke the story. Did I just hear a collective sigh?

For a great look at this story check out an article in the UK paper the Guardian from August: http://www.guardian.co.uk/southafrica/story/0,,2152333,00.html

The government is saying loud and clear that they respect press freedoms. Ironically, all of this blew up on the 30th anniversary of Black Wednesday, the day the apartheid government cracked down on the media. Since apartheid ended South Africa has been regarded as having some of the best media freedom policies in the world. But having rules and living by them are two different things. The government has often expressed concern the media is damaging the country’s image and should focus on the positives of the country, rather than the negatives. Nice one.

Maybe the government should focus on HIV/AIDS, crime and the plethora of other issues and leave the media to do what they do best: keep the public informed and the government in check.

Have a great night Saturday everyone.