100MW of light in the dark

When I heard that King David School alumnus Gidon Novick was involved in taking over the lion’s share of South African Airways, I felt inspired and excited. Such good news!

Not least of all because I know Novick to be a smart, innovative mensch of a businessman who understands the airline industry, but because now finally SAA will be run like a business.

And while it has sucked up so much taxpayers’ money already, it will no longer be a drain on our economy. To top that, if Novick and crew do what they plan to do, we may even have an airline we can be really proud of. Let’s wait and see, but isn’t it fabulous to have some good news to share?

This doesn’t seem to fit the general mood of our community. I guess we can’t ignore the rise in antisemitism and how COVID-19 is really hitting us. We certainly can’t ignore the huge numbers of us who are sick and others who have died. Yes, it’s frightening at best.

However, it’s not all doom and gloom, and we need to recognise this for our own benefit.

While you have been worrying about COVID-19 and rattling on about all our woes, have you noticed that the rand is 30% stronger than it was this time last year, when it traded at R18.50 to the dollar? Now, it’s about R13.70 to the dollar. I don’t claim to be anything of an expert, but this has to be good news.

Then, this may have passed you by, but for a long time, there has been a call for the ceiling on self-generated electricity to be raised, and the minister of minerals and energy, Gwede Mantashe, has dug in his heels. What this means is that until now, you had a very limited amount of electricity that you could generate yourself without relying on Eskom. So, mines and huge industry had no choice but to spend fortunes on electricity from Eskom. But now, President Cyril Ramaphosa, who we all criticise for not being decisive enough, has overridden Mantashe and raised this ceiling on self-generating electricity without the need for a licence from 1MW to 100MW. In fact, those fighting for the increase were hoping for an increase only to 10MW.

While this may not affect us in our day to day life, it’s a big deal, and one that we can really be positive about. It will help our economy in a big way.

Also, it appears that following all the allegations of corruption on the part of Health Minister Dr Zweli Mkhize, the president didn’t just sit back and take it. He actually put Mkhize on special leave. Kol hakavod! It bodes well in tough times, and times aren’t going to get any easier for the president.

Then, on 10 July, an extradition treaty between the United Arab Emirates and South Africa will come into force. Why on earth is this important? Well, the dear old Guptas are hanging out there and wouldn’t it be nice for them to be brought here to have their day in court after all they have done to South Africa? They will probably make a dash for it, but at least they will be shaken up a bit.

Then, when we heard about the destruction of millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccines that were about to rolled out because they were believed to be contaminated, we all thought: more bad news! But the good news is that pharmaceutical company Aspen has assured us that it will have 300 000 new and uncontaminated vaccines ready to be rolled out by Monday. And more to come the following week. So we should be right on track. Not bad going!

Now, I cannot take credit for all this good news because to be honest, it hasn’t been easy for me to look upwards with this heavy cloud hanging over us. I’m grateful to have a board of directors who recognise how important it is for us all to see the silver lining. I have to thank Howard Sackstein, Benjy Porter, and Herschel Jawitz for inspiring me. And a little bit of help from Peter Bruce’s excellent writing too.

The point is, they were on a roll and could see all these positive changes that were happening in front of us, but so few of us were looking for them.

While we need to keep looking for good news to uplift us and change the way we view our future, we can’t ignore our vital choices about how we deal with the third wave of COVID-19.

We can go into denial and believe it’s never going to hit us … until it does. We can tempt fate and hold or go to parties, hoping like hell that they don’t become super-spreader events. And we can rationalise our chances, and decide that we are healthy and strong so it won’t hurt us. That’s naïve and foolish and certainly won’t help anyone, rather it will exacerbate the problem.

If we continue to ignore the protocols, our numbers will continue to go up. That’s our choice. The responsibility belongs to each and every one of us. The sooner we observe all precautions, the sooner the third wave will end.

As we commemorate 16 June this week on Youth Day, we recall a time when we thought the country was about to enter a civil war. Children were killed and wounded by police brutality. The world condemned the apartheid government and saw white South Africans as pariahs. They imposed sanctions on South Africa and put pressure on the government. We couldn’t see that our country could be healed, and South Africa went through a dark time.

In the end, there was real change, which was hard to imagine at that time.

And there will be an end to the pandemic. We just have to do what it takes to get us there. This, too, shall pass. We will weather the storm, and we will triumph over this situation. We are survivors.

Having said that, let’s not take any chances. Stop holding and going to parties and events! Batten down the hatches, and take time to enjoy your homes with your nearest and dearest. Do what you need to do to stay safe and COVID-19 free.

Happy Youth Day and Shabbat Shalom!