Dani on the state of the nation

I solemnly pledge myself to the service of humanity and will endeavour to practice my profession with conscience and with dignity.
I will maintain by all the means in my power the honour and the noble traditions of my profession. The total health of my patients will be my first consideration.
I will hold in confidence all personal matters coming to my knowledge.
I will not permit considerations of religion, nationality, race or social standing to intervene between my duty and my patient.
I will maintain the utmost respect for human life. I make these promises, solemnly, freely and upon my honour.

This is the oath pledged by nurses that practice within South Africa today and I find it disheartening that a promise with such eminence has become so meaningless and erratic.

Don’t get me wrong, I am under no misconceptions that nurses and health care workers should be paid more. You only have to watch the likes of Saving Soweto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=43sF56TF280&feature=channel
a documentary which follows a Trauma doctor through one of many 24 hour shifts at Baragwaneth hospital in Soweto SA) to see what atrocities and pressures our health care workers are put under every day; however; this is no excuse to place the lives of desperate people in jeopardy. This is no longer a strike, it is attempted murder.

The country is in chaos, some internationally may even call the breakdown of medical care and the sudden standstill of educational facilities a catastrophe. Not our government however. While the country sits on the verge of a national crisis Jacob Zuma is shipped off to China with fiancé number… oh who knows…. because according to ANC’s spokesperson Jackson Mthembu “the work of the government must go on.” Well call me selfish but surely the South African governments first priority is… well… South Africa.

The government sector is filled with holes and questions - Why is the government not implicating the promises made? Why are they not arresting violent strikers? How can our Unions make excuses for destructive employees who took an oath to “maintain the utmost respect for human life”? In most professions people have been fired or even jailed for less.

Sometimes I just wish South Africa could be run a little more like a powerful, passionate power house and a little less like a school playground – Hopefully then the head of South Africa “Pty Ltd”, Jacob Zuma, would be made to penalise those not contributing, inspire those that hold our country together and reward those who work hard.

But instead, here we sit. Sigh.

-Dani Moolman

Have you seen the real Spider Man?

He's french and his 48 years old:
http://www.alainrobert.com/
Unfortunately he doesn't save lives or do any good for mankind but the man can climb!
He has just been arrested (again) for climbing a 57 story building in Sydney. He's clombed some of the world tallest buildings and he does it all without any equipment. Creepy but pretty cool.

Swanning Around

While we worry about strikes, the break-down of our government and staying alive in South Africa, this is what the British are writing about

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20100825/tuk-motorcyclist-hurt-in-swan-crash-6323e80.html

You gotta love a media group with far too much time on their hands. This poor swan though, no one said anything about his injuries. The article should have read something like this:

Man on motorcycle flies into unsuspecting swan

'While Sederick Swan was minding his own business yesterday, crossing the carriageway after a long day in the pond, he was hit by a man on a motorcycle. Reports say that the man wasn’t even looking where he was going when he collided with Sederick. Sederick sustained some minor injuries and is recovering well. Sederick’s family is glad that the man’s head, covered by a hard helmet, was not at the same level as Fredericks flight path. No one knows if the man sustained injuries nor do they really care ’.

Being schooled the hard way

Environmentalists and green nuts the world over have spent millions trying to convince indifferent populations to conserve our natural resources. They have endeavored to find a way to get us to realise the value of our natural resources before they run out. They have missed the simplest course of action available to them. Take it away for a day.

South Africans don't need to be told how precious our water is. We don't need to see campaigns on how to conserve electricity. The government has taught us how invaluable these resources are and they've done it the hard way; they’ve taken it away from us.

Every South African, whether rich or poor, has been without one or more resources for a day. We have first-hand experience of an energy crisis and know full well what it’s like to be in the middle of an important document at work only to find yourself in the dark, staring at a useless dead piece of machinery. Or what it’s like to be all soaped up in the shower only to find the trickle coming out of the shower head is slowly diminishing. Contemplating using toilet water to wash off your shampoo is probably more common in South Africa than you think.

We know how valuable our resources are, so we should be protecting them-with our lives. We should be showing the rest of the world how it's done. Either that, or the governments of the first world need to school them the hard way. I promise you that if they did that, environmentalists everywhere would hug a tree in thanks that people finally understood.

Gagging the Press

http://www.news24.com/Columnists/ChrisMoerdyk/Blaming-media-is-admitting-failure-20100823


Blaming media is admitting failure

I have absolutely no doubt that 99% of all media revelations of political intrigue, corruption, fraud and whatever sensational dirty dealings you care to mention are not initiated by nosey investigative journalists.

They are started by people within Cabinet, government departments, parastatals, public and private companies, religious organisations and sports bodies leaking information to the media.

It is human nature that whenever people get together to take a decision and one of them doesn't agree, something will be leaked to the media, shareholders or to staff.

Not only do they leak often extremely confidential information to the media but the more they don't get their way, the more annoyed they are, the more their egos are damaged, the more they sensationalise the information they are divulging.

So, when the ANC, Communist Party or anyone else call for media tribunals and protection of information acts, all it really means is that they have finally given up trying to keep control of their own people.

Then, as a last resort, they turn to shooting the messenger in an effort to save themselves.

However, I am not suggesting for a minute that the media doesn't get things wrong. Of course they do.

And yes, of course, the media is a business in which profit is a priority.

Press freedom like pregnancy

But, any media boss with half a brain will know that one sensational story or even a string of sensational stories will not result in any long term increase in sales.

Making money out of a news medium is about giving advertisers real, sustainable long term value. It takes a lot more than sensational content to build a quality audience. Quality content is what builds audiences.

But, getting back to restricting the media - the problem really is that press freedom is like pregnancy. Either you are or you aren't.

But, even so, South African media are not completely free to just do what they like without any recourse.

They are governed by self-regulation and whether or not one feels that this is sufficient is another story and maybe the media does need to look at its own rules.

The press is also governed by South African law.

Anyone who feels that the media has been misleading or libellous can sue the daylights out of them.

But, what amazes me is the number of politicians and business leaders here in South Africa who huff and puff in denial and threaten to sue the media, but then, when a push comes to a shove, they hardly ever do.

Very few actually go through with it and one cannot help but wonder why? The only logical answer seems to be because the press was right and they were wrong.

Another problem with things like the protection of information bill and media tribunals is that South African media consumption is no longer something that just emanates from South Africa.

Dozens have tried

News and information is being disseminated on the internet via social media as well as by massive global organisations like CNN, Sky and the BBC.

The South African government will very quickly find that they won't be able to stop any of these stories that are bothering them, through legislation. Because I suspect that the BBC, SKY, CNN and most of all Google, Twitter, FaceBook and others, won't actually give a hoot about any media restrictions we may have.

Dozens of countries have tried it and all of them have failed to keep the lid on.

Quite frankly, if our government goes ahead with the media tribunal or protection of Information Act, they might as well consider banning the internet, cellphones, satellite television and the importation of foreign newspapers and magazines.

Because that's the only way they will be able to stop the media from doing what it is doing right now. Like it or not, technology has effectively made the media untouchable.

It is, I firmly believe, better for a country to have an imperfect free press than no free press.

Comments by Dani Moolman:

The ANC has been fundamental in the free democracy we hold today. South Africa was deemed the shining light of the African continent and the ANC stood strong in its moral beliefs in freedom and equality.

This seems to be a far cry from where we are today; heading fast and furious back to our pre apartheid traditions of hiding information behind the façade of protection of information bills and media tribunals. Surely this is just the kind of offence ANC fought to abolish!

As a nation belted out our national anthem at this year’s 2010 FIFA World Cup it really dawned on me that we as a generation perhaps for the first time and maybe for the last sang our anthem loud and true. “As we live and strive for freedom in South Africa our land”

Malema says something Intelligent

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=3268&fArticleId=vn20100823054117182C511957&fFeed=breakingnews
No, I'm not joking. For once the man has said something useful: (as a result, look out for flying pigs and perhaps a little snow fall)

'Julius Malema has warned the Congress of South African Trade Unions (Cosatu) that the deaths of patients in hospitals arising through disruptions by striking public service workers would haunt it and that it would regret the consequences.'

'"You can't be proud that you took out a doctor from an (operating) theatre and a person died. Those are the disruptive (incidents) that will haunt Cosatu."'

'Malema said that while the Youth League supported the strike in principle, it opposed the violence by strikers.

"No matter how (unhappy) we are, they can't close down hospitals." '

The Community Strikes Back

http://www.thestar.co.za/?fSectionId=3268&fArticleId=vn20100823053032530C568133&fFeed=sanews

Yup, we are still talking about the strikes. But this time something positive has come out of government inefficiencies. The community is pulling together. The principle of Ubuntu is not lost.

I’m not sure if this has happened before, I don’t remember following the last strike so closely, but thousands of volunteers have given up their time to assist in hospitals while permanent staff is on strike. Volunteers are feeding patients, making beds, cleaning in the kitchen. It truly makes me very happy to see that South Africans have not given up. We are not ready to let go of all that is good in our country. We are not ready to watch it fail. This just proves that there is a new spirit in this country, attitudes have changed. People have stopped moaning and have started doing something. Instead of griping about the ‘state of our nation’ we are turning South Africa into the kind of place you can be proud of. The only thing I am ashamed of is that I was not one of these volunteers.

The change in attitudes may partly be related to the World Cup and the amazing sense of togetherness and patriotism we felt. It may also be because of this:
http://www.leadsa.co.za/

Lead SA is the most extraordinary initiative. Not extraordinary in what it asks of us, extraordinary in that it’s working. It calls South Africans to take action. It asks us to remember what it is like to care for others. What it is like to respect each other. What it is like to live in a great nation. It asks us to make that change. Download the call to action and join them on Facebook. This initiative could change South Africa forever. Make sure you’re a part of it.