It has been very interesting to watch the mood swing, which we can see taking place across the world, against the continued enforcement of COVID regulations.  Perhaps it is because we have been told so many stories – there was always, as one example, the hint that once we got vaccinations we would not have to wear masks.  Once we got vaccinations, we discovered that we still had to wear the masks.  Half the mask rules are absolutely inconsistent and ridiculous – try wearing a mask while running on a treadmill at gym, for example.  You have to wear a mask to walk into a restaurant, but once you are seated at your table then you can take if off to eat – how does that really help? 

In that regard, the protests currently taking place in Canada are very interesting, particularly because it is a society that apparently has always been good at following the rules.  I personally am somebody who follows rules, but I think it is time for a lot of the rules to be relaxed.  Some of us have had the vaccinations, we’ve had the booster shot and we want to start living more normal lives and accepting that of course, just as when we get into a car everyday, there will be certain risks, which you cannot remove entirely by wearing masks anyway.  We cannot just simply devastate every business, sporting event and everything else in the name of a disease that clearly is not going away any time soon.   Should children, who are the least at risk and who have been vaccinated, by way of example, have to wear masks at school in the name of protecting more sickly older people?  Is there not a responsibility for those who are at risk to take better care of themselves and if need be not go out at all, stay at home and wear N95 masks when they do go out the entire time?  There does not really seem to be a difference in the infection rates in countries where children wear masks to school, compared to countries where children don’t wear masks to school.  It is time for us to start living a more normal life and to allow people to decide whether or not they want to wear a mask due to their particular circumstances as opposed to forcing all of us to wear them in an inconsistent manner, which no doubt really does not help that much.  After all, we are now told that only the N95 masks really work, so all the other masks we have been wearing are to a certain extent better than nothing, but largely a waste of time.  That is also part of the problem, but that is maybe another topic – and that is the ever-shifting advice we are given.  Unfortunately that has undermined people’s confidence and added to the frustrations.

I think it was good to hear, during the State of the Nation Address by President Cyril Ramaphosa, that the private sector will help the government investigate cases emanating from the State Capture Inquiry.  President Ramaphosa said there might well be special court rolls which would deal with rampant corruption and that whistle blowers would be more protected in future. 

He said it was now obvious that state capture did take place whereby, “… public institutions and state-owned enterprises were infiltrated by a criminal network intent on looting public money for private gain.”  I think it is a good idea to have the private sector assisting with the investigation and prosecution of the crimes, because I don’t think the Government has the capacity to prosecute these cases properly and one wonders as to how many people there are in Government that are loyal to those involved in the state capture.  Obviously, those sort of concerns must have been in the back of the President’s mind when he took this unusual decision to involve the private sector.