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2021 – The year of Covid variants, elections, and real superhumans stepping up
The Citizen's Rorisang Kgosana, picks out the stories that made the biggest impact on her in 2021.
South Africans cast their votes at the Joburg City Hall voting station, 1 November 2021, during the South African local government elections. Picture: Michel Bega
When the 21-day lockdown was first introduced in March of 2020, some of us still had hope that by this time of last year, the Covid virus that had gripped the world would be nothing but a memory.
It wasn’t to be though, and we started the year under yet another strict lockdown level, which included a curfew, and bottle stores shut tight, while Minister of Police Bheki Cele advised us to stay indoors and rather drink water.
Nearly two years into the pandemic, nothing seems to have changed except the virus which continues to mutate with each new wave. As we started the year having come out of the Beta variant, Delta came around the winter time, hitting India quite hard before it travelled down to our country, where thousands continued to be infected and sadly lost their lives.
Vaccine hope and disappointment
However, the long-awaited vaccine finally arrived and by May, healthcare workers were lining up to get the Johnson & Johnson jab as part of the Sisonke study. Despite the idea that the vaccine would be the solution to getting life back to normal and was eventually accessible to all eligible people including children, many South Africans, however, have dug in their heels and refuse to get the jab.
ALSO READ: Fewer South Africans fully protected than first thought, due to J&J vaccine
Millions have still not been vaccinated. Despite the target of vaccinating nearly 70% of the adult population by December, less than 25% are fully vaccinated.
The celebrated Johnson & Johnson single-dose jab was discovered to not be as efficient as expected.
Booster doses are now encouraged, even though millions have still not received their first vaccine shot.
As we navigate the virus and its implications, many have accepted and embraced the new normal, and the country had to find ways of continuing with the local government elections.
Despite the Electoral Commission requesting the courts to postpone the elections, this application was dismissed and at short notice, the commission as well as political parties had to prepare for the highly contested local elections.
Reflecting on the ANC’s performance during these elections, it was clear that what the liberation movement had fought for was finally coming to fruition. Their poor performance was a clear indication that democracy was working.
South Africans were spoilt for choice as 325 political parties, including 1 500 independent candidates, contested these elections. Democracy was also demonstrated by millions who chose not to cast their votes, which the ANC has blamed for their poor performance.
While the ruling party won most of the municipalities, a large 66 of them were hung, including the major metros such as Johannesburg and Tshwane.
ALSO READ: ANC going the same path as other African revolutionaries
As citizens continue to complain about issues of service delivery while the country’s healthcare system has been under scrutiny since the pandemic, in Mpumalanga, however, a small organisation was gathering medical specialists to offer their services for free to the poor community of Acornhoek at their local and under-resourced Tintswalo Hospital.
Unlike some local municipalities that have neglected their people, the Tshemba Foundation is a clear example of how to help those in need. As a non-profit organisation, they have garnered sponsors to donate multimillion Rand equipment to the hospital’s operation theatre, while specialists come from around the world to give free cataract surgeries to those who required it.
ALSO READ: Giving sight to the blind – Vaal doctor’s free, life-changing work in rural Mpumalanga
One of their doctors is Dr Sachin Bawa, a young, private ophthalmologist from Johannesburg who occasionally leaves his wife and small child behind to offer his services to Tintswalo hospital free of charge.
It is people like Bawa that made me realise that despite the hardships we experience in the country, including politicians who clearly do not care about their citizens, there are superhumans out there who take their time to bring good into the country.
