Let’s unite to fight the deadly virus

I write this letter looking beyond the pandemic that has thus far claimed so many lives.

I have faith and belief that if we stick together and focus we will beat this and therefore we need to prepare for that period when the rebuilding of our battered country begins.

We must be prepared and ready to move forward.

That requires us to believe in ourselves.

“We should recalibrate our focus and concentrate on the things we can all do together to break the tide of #Covid-19,” urges Health Minister Zweli Mkhize. He is right.

“We need your help” is a cri de coeur that is an impassioned cry for help from a member of the health profession exhausted by the swelling tide.

These frontliners are our own defence right now and, yes, we are in a state of war.

So let us set aside our differences and rally behind the government, not blindly but conscious of the imperfections exacerbated by many factors.

Topmost of these are a restive populace distrustful of the government and therefore defiant of regulations.

I plead to worshippers of my faith not to breach the latest adjusted level 3 regulations, as has been reported online. Please, I beg you not to contribute to tensions that could translate to Islamophobic conduct against Muslims.

My dear countrymen, as Gibran Kahlil Gibran challenged his Lebanese countrymen, ask not what your country can do for you.

Rather in the current circumstances ask, and volunteer, what you can do for South Africa. SABER AHMED JAZBHAY |