2021 IN REVIEW Out of the frying pan into the fire – but even the darkest storm clouds have silver linings By REBECCA DAVIS becsplanb
The United Nations had high hopes for 2021. It would be, among other lofty goals, the International Year of Peace and Trust, the International Year of Creative Economy for Sustainable Development and the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables.
We encountered the gravest of public service betrayals in the form of a health minister, entrusted with steering us through a medical emergency, channelling funds meant to be used to save lives to family members and friends. We saw ongoing attempts to erode our democracy by forces aligned to the misnamed Radical Economic Transformation campaign and their media allies.
Much has been written, some of it overblown, in praise of the resilience shown by ordinary South Africans during and after the July riots. What is beyond question, however, is that at a time when the spectre of full-blown anarchy seemed to loom dangerously over the country, the vast majority of South Africans chose a different path. The majority of South Africans did not participate in looting and violence even when the invitation beckoned.
The year also wasn’t a total write-off for humanity globally. Counterintuitive though it may seem, since you’re reading this in South Africa’s Fourth Wave of the Covid-19 pandemic, it was a year in which the growing ability of medical science to curb fatal illness shone through. In a textbook case of trying to gate a bolted horse, Facebook and Twitter finally ban US electoral loser Donald Trump. Trump’s final desperate thrashes of indignation cannot ultimately prevent US President Joe Biden and VP Kamala Harris being inaugurated later the same month.
Locally, ANC politicians accused of corruption begin to froth at the mouth when President Cyril Ramaphosa announces they have 30 days to step aside or be suspended. Covid-19 continues to scythe its path through high-profile South Africans, claiming the life of fiery journalist Karima Brown. There is mass mourning in KwaZulu-Natal as King Goodwill Zwelithini passes away at 72.
Also in April, Britain’s First Lady Prince Philip hangs up his walking boots at the ripe old age of 99, just one year away from receiving a congratulatory telegram from his wife. People reminisce about all the wildly racist things he said over the decades, which the British press dutifully term “gaffes” or “faux pas”.
In the same month, Israel displaces Palestinians in east Jerusalem, and airstrikes on the Gaza Strip will intensify as Hamas increases retaliatory rockets. Later in the year, a South African beauty queen will once again become the focal point of local arguments about the Middle East, as Miss South Africa opts to attend the Miss Universe pageant in Israel. See also: Shanti Naidoo, 2018.
SA Police Service members at the special funeral of actress Shaleen Surtie-Richards on 13 June 2021 in Cape Town, South Africa. The veteran actress died at the age of 66. Jacob Zuma is eventually persuaded to swap Nkandla for the tjoekie, after a dramatic showdown featuring his visibly drunk son Edward pledging to protect his father with his life.
The aftermath of the riots at Chris Hani Mall during pro-Zuma attacks on 13 July 2021 in Vosloorus, Gauteng. South Africa licks its wounds from what President Cyril Ramaphosa gravely asserts was an “insurrection”. This sounds very serious, but in the months that follow almost nobody will be held accountable for inciting the insurrection – possibly because there is credible evidence that among the ringleaders are members of the president’s own party.
Zuma is released from prison on “medical parole”, which South Africans now understand is code for “dodgy reasons”. It will soon be announced that the country’s previous most high-profile convict, murderer Oscar Pistorius, is also coming up for release any day now.The release of the Pandora Papers confirms what everyone knew already, namely that super-rich people would rather kill their own mothers than pay meaningful amounts of tax.
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