‘All lives matter’ denies the pain of black people

Black Lives Matter (BLM) is not about elevating black lives above other lives, but a spontaneous movement by black and white people to put black lives on an equal footing after 400 years of systemic racism in the US and other countries.

Similarly, the fight against apartheid was not to elevate black lives above white lives, but to put them on an equal footing with white lives — a cause supported by blacks and many whites.

Reacting to BLM with “all lives matter” is simply denying the pain of black people over centuries and reconfirming old attitudes. It is like the denial in February this year in SA that apartheid was a crime.

Taking a knee in solidarity with BLM is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength. It is a gesture of humility and of recognising the pain caused over centuries to fellow travellers just because they look different. It also represents a pledge to work towards socioeconomic equality.

Nearly 1,000 South Africans so far have added their names to a declaration by 10 concerned white South Africans to apologise for the pain caused under apartheid. It also entails a pledge to work towards the elimination of socioeconomic inequality.

I find it ironic that many whites are singing the praises of the few high-profile blacks who subscribe to their slogan of “all lives matter”. I remember that under apartheid whites sang the praises of the few high-profile blacks who were less critical of apartheid.

In my view the slogan “all lives matter” to counter BLM is adding insult to injury and a subtle effort to perpetuate the privileges of the past.

Dawie Jacobs, Pretoria

Nation of fatties at risk from Covid

While the ongoing battle between SA’s 11million smokers and the government plays out, a bigger danger lurks in the wings for those with Covid-19, namely, their ample waistlines. We have heard Dr No and Mister Consensus warn us repeatedly about the dangers of smoking and the risk it poses for infected individuals. Not a word about a much bigger danger: being obese and having Covid-19.

Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing a tidal wave of obesity. The World Health Organisation has long predicted it will overtake smoking as the No 1 preventable cause of death. In SA, the situation is dire. About 28% of the population are classified as obese. SA is ranked in the top 30 of the world’s fattest nations. This translates into more than 16-million people. Considering there are 11-million smokers, the potential for obesity to kill more people than smoking is clearly evident.

Being obese comes with a massively elevated chance that you have a serious comorbidity. Obesity triggers metabolic syndrome, which embraces a wide range of conditions like hypertension and diabetes. These conditions seriously stack the odds against you if you are infected.

Thousands of lives could be saved by trimming the national waistline and taking moderate exercise. SA could promote the sale of healthy foodstuffs and increase the cost of unhealthy ones.

In the UK, another nation of fatties,

Boris Johnson has highlighted the urgency of changing your diet to exclude caloriedense foodstuffs loaded with sugar and saturated fat. He has exhorted people to exercise, and drink and smoke less to reduce the impact of the pandemic. This advice is backed by science and legislation. Professor Kurt Sartorius, School of Nursing and Public Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal

Corruption-rich, compassion-poor

The minister of basic education, along with eight of our country’s nine provincial education MECs (no guessing which region was the exception) had to be forced by a court order, brought by several NGOs, to continue to feed millions of hungry schoolchildren during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Our journey between then and now has seen a lot on the way: Aids denialism, the arms deal scandal, cadre deployment, state capture, the Guptas, failing state-owned enterprises (SOEs), massive looting of state resources, the Life Esidimeni trauma, the Estina dairy farm scandal, the VBS Mutual Bank debacle, and now the widespread pillaging of Covid-19 emergency funds. Even the funds allocated for the state burials of Nelson Mandela and Winnie Madikizela-Mandela did not escape the claws of the greedy.

This is happening under a “leadership” that is showing itself to be rich in corruption but poor in compassion — happy to throw billions of rands as bailouts into bankrupted SOEs, but unwilling to feed our country’s hungry schoolchildren. And in spite of the “New Dawn” promises, a plethora of inquiries and commissions, and a seemingly strengthened prosecuting authority, no-one, literally no-one, has yet faced any form of trial.

This is our road from pride to shame. It is sad and utterly sickening, and it has to end — soon.

Roel H Goris, Thesen Islands, Knysna

Use DStv channels to teach kids

Why doesn’t DStv free up channels for school lessons? Poor and rural learners may not have data but it always amazes me when travelling through our beautiful land that even the most dilapidated shack seems to have a DStv dish.

Engage with the government to allocate the best teachers in each grade and each subject and let them teach on TV.

I imagine advertisers in the fast-moving consumer goods and other sectors would jump at this captive market, so instead of repeating adverts about which programme will be repeating next, DStv could even get fresh material, customers and advertisers. Bruce Beswick, Johannesburg

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