AS happens on the odd occasion, the brains trust of convivial conversationalists was gathering in the far corner of the local pub and grill to address the pressing problems of our neighbourhood and the world. And as happens on the not-so-odd occasion, Luke the Dude was hogging the floor.
“Really, sometimes I don’t know what’s worse,” he lamented. “The arrogance of those lording it over us or their bare ignorance.”
“What do you mean,” enquired Miss Lily, “the rolling spectacle of President Ramaphosa hiding millions of dollars in his couch – by the way, it’s called a ‘bank’ in Afrikaans, maybe that’s where he got confused – vengeful former spy boss Arthur Fraser laying criminal charges against him and Cope then laying corruption charges against Fraser?”
“All of the above plus the rest of it; the list is endless,” nodded Luke knowingly.
“What caught my eye was the inhumanity of ignorami in positions of power,” pondered Bill the Beard, “The gang of ANC bosses collapsing the once Friendly City of Port Elizabeth comes to mind. Those well-fed and never-thirsty people whose sole achievement was to change the name of the place to Putsonderwater.”
“Oh no, it is called Qgeberha,” informed Big Ben, failing to get it.
“How do you spell Qgeberha, Ben?” grinned Luke the Dude deviously. Of course Big Ben did not know, along with the rest of us – thus giving Luke the gap: “Easy,” lectured he, “Listen carefully, I am going to say it only once: P, E.
“And that, if you want to know, is also the only way you’ll find the place for its weather forecast.”
“Funny guy,” grumbled Ben, sounding threateningly like Julius Malema disrupting Parliament. Or maybe Trevor Noah doing Malema.
The Prof lifted a warning eyebrow to Luke the Dude. Bill the Beard concurred and retook the floor:
“Back to PE, please: An example of the cruelty of incompetence. The deployed geniuses in charge of Social Development, so to speak, in the Eastern Cape have managed – from April to the end of June – to provide exactly 141 food parcels to families in need. That’s it, in a province where more than four out of every ten children live below the food poverty line.
“Meanwhile, at the other end of the country, at the Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital in Johannesburg, we have learned the heart-breaking reality about babies dying when Dr Tim De Maayer, a highly experienced paediatrician, blew the whistle on the perilously mismanaged state of public hospitals, with death and immeasurable suffering the result.
“To which I want to add: specifically in the ANC-governed Gauteng and conceivably other ANC provinces, to be fair to the Western Cape and the DA.
“Dr De Maayer wrote an open letter to the hospital administrators starting, as reported by Daily Maverick, with … I’ve got the words here:
“ ‘Last week I attended the funeral of a 13-year-old patient of mine who I have looked after for years at Rahima Moosa Mother and Child Hospital. Today I counselled two mothers, informing them that our resuscitation measures had been in vain.
‘I wish you could be there to see the pain and grief that these parents and their families go through. Children are dying and the horrendous conditions in our public hospitals are contributing to their deaths.’
“He mentions doctors trying to save lives by the light of their cellphone torches, loss of life in blackouts because the generators are too small, unrepaired and missing equipment, toilets running dry, hospital-acquired infections spreading like wildfire and a further litany of failures adding to this real-life nightmare.
“Also, how attempts to have these deadly conditions addressed by following the ‘correct procedures’ came to naught, including reports going back to 2016 and a letter detailing the disaster as recently as 11 April. He then asks unsettling questions, such as ‘Would you admit your child to this hospital?’ and ‘Have you read the reports?’
“So how did the ANC cadres in charge respond? What do you think?”
“Well …” considered Big Ben, “they no doubt set up an emergency task team led by someone of André de Ruyter’s experience and management skills, to get the problems sorted. I mean, we all pay taxes; they’ve got the money. It’s simply a management problem.”
“Oh dear,” despaired The Prof, “if only that were true …”
“Useless!” agreed Jon the Joker. “I’ll wager R100 to R10 they fired the bloke and now have one fewer medical specialist who cares about his patients.”
“Agreed,” frowned Miss Lily. “In fact, I offer twenty to one.”
“Okay, learned Biker King,” (Bill the Beard organizes the local version of the Hell’s Angels in his spare time. – Ed) fidgeted champion of the 19th hole Colin the Golfer, “get a move on then. Take us out of our misery before someone loses a lot of money, okay?”
“Useless!” exploded Jon the Joker. “I could have had at least my beer tab covered here!”
“Technically,” responded Bill the Beard, “no bets would have been won. Of course their first instinct was to fire him and they did so pronto. Who does this white man think he is? How dare he speak like that to those appointed above him? But then, sorry Jon and Miss Lily, the public outcry made their bosses tell them to cancel their suspension.”
“So is that the end of the matter?” asked Stevie the Poet incredulously. (He has been out of circulation writing a book or something. – Ed)
“No ways!” responded The Beard equally incredulously. “They are bringing ‘disciplinary action’ against him in a desperate attempt to still get him fired for, as the DA’s Shadow Minister of Health, Michele Clarke, describes it, ‘revealing the state of decline’ at his hospital.”
“The DA has taken up his fight in Parliament,” added The Prof. “They also saved Cape Town from Blackout Stage 6 when the rest of the country sank into that level of frustration. So, there are some good news stories too, if you know where to look …”
Email: noag@maxitec.co.za
