Waiting for the sms from the vaccine authority seems rather like standing in an orderly queue for a lifeboat on the Titanic. Admirable, but unwise.

Completing the process at the DisChem headquarters in Midrand took five hours.

Sure it was a Ben Hur, but without exception every Dischem employee I encountered – from the guard who showed us our place in the queue to director Stan Gates who walked into the “recovery room” to ask recipients how things were progressing  – was obviously bent on being helpful.

It was one of the seminal new South African experiences: along with the first democratic election in 1994 and hosting the Football Word Cup in 2010.

We were in this fight against COVID together, and determined to beat the lurgy.

On social media I learn that many friends have received their vaccine must quicker and more efficiently. Good luck, I say to them. We are in this fight together.

It seems that all of us now have to wait 42 days to get the second jab.

There is a bid to tell us this is the most efficacious application of the vaccine. I don’t believe it.

We are being made to wait so that more people can get the first dose of the limited supplies of  vaccine available.

Remember the people now telling us about the need to wait are the same people whe were telling us 14 months ago that we did not need masks because they were afraid we would gobble up the available masks to the detriment of the health workers.

So wait I will.

Not at all sure where I will go to get the second jab. It would be great to avoid the five-hour process at GenChem, even if this means missing another chance to see  my new-found pandemic friends.

Discovery boss Adrian Gore has written a letter saying members should try the sites being set up by his medical aid society.

He seems confident there will be enough Pfizer to dispense the second injections.

From his mouth to God’s ear!

President Cyril Ramaphosa just tightened a band of cold steel around my testicles – metaphorically speaking, of course – telling us that South Africa would chuck out two million does of Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

He’s blaming a contamination scare at its source in the the United States.

To his credit, Ramaphosa acted swiftly, decisively and courageously locking down South Africa early on in the pandemic.

However his government’s record in dispensing the vaccine this year as been less than impressive. Plainly speaking it has been marked by dithering and, by all accounts, corruption.

That is the antithesis of the British experience where Boris Johnson fiddled at the start of the pandemic, costing thousands of lives, but has done a sterling job of getting vaccine into Britons’ arms.

Could the G7 come to our aid?

At their summit in Cornwall last weekend, the leaders of Britain, France, the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada and Italy committed themselves to providing a billion doses of vaccine to poorer countries within the year.

Critics say this is a drop in the ocean for the developing world that needs at least ten times that amount.

We can talk about lifting the intellectually property rights to allow vaccine to be manufactured in South Africa, Senegal and other countries ready and able to do it.

If successful, that would be months away.

We need a quicker solution if we are to achieve the much vaunted herd mentality and avoid the plethora of variants to which we no longer may attach a national appellation.

Away with the political correctness and down with the blame game, I say with unashamed selfishness as I prepare to line up for my second dose.

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Assailed by things deadly, horrible, inexplicable and invisible we naturally ask why?

That plaintive question bridges, race, gender, class, identity and education.

Why is COVID 19 killing more men than women?

Why is the accursed virus proving more deadly to minorities in the northern hemisphere countries were it now rages?

My guess is we will still be asking these and other questions by the time a vaccine is discovered and tested.

One recurring question, however, bears immediate examination: why are women leaders dealing with the pandemic better than men.

I think immediately of Germany’s Angela Merkel, New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern, Finland’s Sanna Marin, Norway’s Erna Solberg, Iceland’s Katrin Jakobsdottir and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-Wen.

They constitute a healthy slice of the 7% of female heads of government on the planet.

How does one judge a leader’s performance in the worst international crisis since World War II?

It might actually be too bold to make a judgement before we can more accurately gauge the economic disaster brought on by the virus and the lockdown to keep it out.

We might have to reconsider after seeing what is left of the economies that were opened up..

But for now we know that the severity of the pandemic is determined by three things: population density, exposure to travelers carrying the virus across borders and the speed with which borders were closed and people forced into lockdown.

Leadership had little to do with the first two points, but it can be judged on the third.

The severity of the pandemic was substantially lower when leaders acted sooner to lockdown – even by a week.

This flattened the curve , reduced the RO factor which is the  number of people each coronavirus victim infects and prevented new cases.

There were male leaders who acted swiftly. 

But those who stand out now: US President Donald Trump, British Prime Minister  Boris Johnson and Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro down-played the risk of COVID 19 until it was too late.

By contrast each of the woman mentioned above acted days sometime weeks ahead of their neighbours.

In doing so they took the  bold and unpopular step of closing down life as they knew it against an invisible enemy.

Despite the dishonest bluster and backsliding of their President, 80% of American males still picked men  when asked to name leaders they most admire.

Nearly three-quarters of men believe they are more intelligent than their peers.

By comparison 57% of woman believe they are smarter than average.n

They don’t suffer the over-confidence of men, preferring to seek input and listen in order to make decisions that support communities.

They engage diverse advisers and a wide network of opinions, building teams rather than trusting their own judgement and instincts as men tend to do.

Women acknowledged for being “other directed” and emotionally intelligent are showing themselves in this crisis to be every bit as  decisive and transformational as men by excelling on vision, inspiration, direction setting and thinking outside the box.

Perhaps there is something instinctive about turning to a woman in matters of physical hurt.

When you grazed your knee, bumped your head or cut your finger, who did you turn to first?

Why, Mum, of course.

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Their statement follows on the expression of support for WHO director general Tedros Ghebryesus by a range of African leaders.

The EFF rounds not only on President Donald Trump but also on British premier Boris Johnson for downplaying the significance of the COVID 19 pandemic.

It commends the WHO head Tedros Gebreyesus for issuing warning that helped contain the spread of the pandemic.

Calling for international cooperation the EFF says the enemy is not a foreign country or a people but a virus that will certainly kill us all.

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He describes post-BREXIT Britain as Africa’s partner of choice.

Britain is pushing out the boat to attract new African  trade and investment after it leaves the European Union.

He says ending the free movement of Europeans into Britain will allow his country to attract the best talent and put people ahead of passports as it gives fairer more equal access to  Africans.

Ahead of leaving to join his family in Canada Prince Harry, no longer his Royal Highness,  attended the summit to speak to the 15 African presidents present.

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Hains says BREXIT is the first time in British history a government has faced a decision that is patently damaging to the country and decided to embark on it anyway.

A staunch EU supporter , Lord Hain is scathing about BREXIT.

“It’s a crazy thing to do because half Britain’s trade  is with the biggest, richest single marketing the world, namely Europe, and it’s on our doorstep,” he says

Hain cautions that  promises by the Conservative government of better economic ties with South Africa have to been seen against the poor post-BREXIT British economy.

“With this kind of policy under Boris Johnson, I don’t feel any kind of confidence being created for some time to come. I don’t mean days and weeks, I mean months and years,” he says.

Hain spoke to opinion formers at the D Group in Johannesburg last night.

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In a debate last night, Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt vowed to keep the envoy in Washington while his rival and favourite Boris Johnson failed to make a similar undertaking.

ends intro

Tweet-happy US President Donald Trump keeps the row blazing calling British ambassador Sir Kim Darrock  a pompous fool for characterizing him as clumsy, incompetent and insecure.

Sir Kim’s remarks were sent confidentially and Prime Minister Theresa May has defended the need for him to be frank.

Censoring ambassadors’ remarks would undermine the whole purpose of having diplomats, say former envoys.

But journalists recalling the leaking of 250 000 State Department cables by Wikileaks nine years ago say diplomats should know the internet cannot be confidential.

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British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson praised his staff for their tireless work on the case.

ends intro 

Andy Tsege, as he is best known, fled Ethiopia in the seventies and sought asylum in Britain where he took citizenship.

The Ethiopian government accused him of plotting a coup and he was sentenced to death in absentia in 2009.

Four years ago he was seized at an airport in Yemen and handed to Ethiopian authorities.

Tsege was pardoned on May 19 

along with 575 other inmates, as part of the Ethiopian government’s current effort to promote reconciliation.

Tsege said he was surprised at the reception he received on being freed and was going to see his father.

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