Some thoughts on responsibilities of Government and people re COVID-19

Sal and I join Herman Mashaba in supporting President Cyril Ramaphosa – and we join him in his concern about the many members of the cabinet that are divisive, exclusive, destructive and obstructive rather than uniting, inclusive, constructive and supportive.

I have had a lot of thoughts on this matter. I am impressed with the way that Abraham Lincoln described democracy: Government of the people by the people for the people.

Our own South African Constitution states that every citizen has equal rights, followed by the statement that every citizen has equal responsibilities. Under the section 3 Citizenship of Chapter 1 (3.2.a, 3.2.b)

(2) All citizens are ­

a.       equally entitled to the rights, privileges and benefits of citizenship; and

b.      equally subject to the duties and responsibilities of citizenship. 

As I looked at some of the images that went around regarding the plight of poor people around the country due to COVID-19 I saw place for cultivation of crops in home gardens that have no crops, but the people complain of being hungry.

One thing that has impressed me working with a volunteer indexing programme at SANBI (South African National Biodiversity Institute) is that most of our volunteers are from Australia for a South African programme! I firmly believe that everyone should work to the extent that he or she is capable, especially if receiving a social grant. Requiring volunteer service would also encourage those receiving the social grants the get themselves better educated and skilled in order to improve their employability. Volunteer work also can have a great advantage in that it helps to develop important skills such as the way that Indexing helps people to become skilled in interpreting information, computer skills, etc.

One volunteer in Australia let me know that she is involved with SAFARIS to fill a requirement of the social grant that she receives from the Australian Government. She is required to give a certain amount of time volunteering if she is receiving a social grant because she is not employed. I feel that such a work requirement would be extremely beneficial in South Africa. For example, there is a great deal of litter all about, and abundant devil thorns and invasive species and it seems as though a lot of people do not take pride in their own country! They would surely be offended if I said that it is MY COUNTRY and not THEIR COUNTRY but they do not take care of OUR COUNTRY! But, most important, in the light of every citizen having equal responsibility, I feel that needs to be stressed – every citizen has equal responsibility to ensure the rights of every other citizen. This is particularly important with the needs of COVID-19 where each individual has an equal responsibility.

SAFARIS (Southern African Friends and Researchers Indexing Specimens) is the volunteer programme that I started that involves transcribing information from historical biodiversity specimens and records. I started this because I have been involved in FamilySearch Indexing, a similar volunteer programme, for many years that transcribes information from images of birth, marriage, death and other records for family history research and I realised that this approach would be valuable for biodiversity records.