Imtiaz Sooliman – Violence in SA Organisations pledge relief
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the challenges faced by healthcare workers due to the lack of transportation, bus service, and medical supplies. They emphasize the importance of avoiding negative reactions to social media posts and negative consequences for healthcare workers, particularly in addressing the shortage of medical supplies and the potential impact of negative social media posts on people. They stress the importance of forgiveness and community leaders to address these issues.
AI: Summary ©
Doctor Imtiaz Suleman, who is from gift of the givers, and they are
getting involved in the response, the humanitarian response, believe
it or not, this has triggered a humanitarian situation that does
need to be responded to. So Doctor Suleman, we've been watching. The
focus has been on violence, the loss of life, the destruction of
property, and now the subsequent shortages that are being created
in the value chain in the economy. Where exactly do you see the gap
in terms of humanitarian responses? And where are you
starting with your responses?
Good morning. There's different levels of intervention. Number
one, we go for the low hanging fruit. Basically, on the first
day, on Monday, everybody was fine, but by the end of Monday,
the calls started coming in. The calls are basic. We need bread and
milk because, remember, everybody's food supply is not
over within one day. Everybody has bought at the beginning of the
month, there's some food supplies so nobody will starve over the
next several weeks. So people do have food, what they need support,
what is basic milk and bread. And here, I must say, the support from
South Africans and South Africans has been incredible. And that
first day and second day in the first few days, that kind of
support of bread and milk has been brought about by individuals. I
remember, because of the circumstances, every server has
now got its own defense system where the roads are closed,
everybody on the roads are blocked, and those are checkpoints
where food is dropped off and calls are made on chat groups and
say milk is available, bread is available. We have been supporting
that process also. We've been buying milk and bread. And whilst
we're saying that we need people to understand there's no need to
panic, even though a lot of food companies have been destroyed,
production companies, as well as wholesalers, as well as shops that
sell it, food is available in KZN, except that it's you have to wait
in queues for a long time. But to bypass that, organizations,
individuals, companies, peoples groups are making items available,
baby milk, powder, bread, milk, other food items to take the
pressure off people going to the supermarkets. So the less people
that go to the shops, the faster other people can get support in
those shops. So that process is also underway. There are companies
who have stockpiles of food which we can purchase and procure and
deliver. So we are doing several things. One is immediate bread and
milk to individuals, bread and milk to communities. Bread and
milk to healthcare workers. Remember, hospitals have got two
nurses for Ward now because of the difficulty of the strikes and no
taxi and no bus service and the anxiety and the fear staff
couldn't come to work, so we can't have medical personnel now waiting
in long queues to get items, even though they can afford it, because
they need to run the hospital. So yesterday, we delivered 150 food
parcels, not milk and bread food parcels, to a hospital in Peter
malisz, I'm not going to give names, I'm not going to give
areas, I'm not going to say How we doing it. I'm just going to tell
you what's being done. And I
then we've got the calls for hospitals in Durban, which we are
processing that, and then smaller communities and bigger
communities. Also, we've been packaging food passes, having
having them very
availability of medical supplies, because right now, 70 pharmacies
in Dublin have been destroyed. Two big wholesalers have been burned
down. A big benefit supply. The manufacturing facility has been
destroyed. So you could have a massive shortage of medical
supplies for all citizens, whether public or private, hospital or
even in communities. A lot of surges have been destroyed. A lot
of optometrist rooms have been destroyed. More than 50 all those
kind of people are going to need support. So we put in a group of
people together to assess the medical needs in terms of medical
supplies for the whole of the of the province. And from there, we
will support the funding. Dr Sullivan, I doubt we will ever we
will find a South African who can question your patriotism and your
heart for this nation and your commitment to this nation over,
you know, decades, really, I'm wondering, to what extent do you
believe that the humanitarian response also provides An
opportunity for lines of dialog between communities that
you know, at the moment, have had a situation where there's been
tension, some of it racially based, tensions that have started
to rear their ugly head. Once again, I'm wondering if this also
opens up a corridor that, while this work is happening, but also
conversations about, you know, trying to, to get a grip on
things. Can actually get going
about that. We've, we've, we've addressed that issue. We've spoken
about it. Humanitarian Response is in the response to a cause, it's
cause and effect, and racially disturbed, you know, our racial
tension can add more.
Drama to humanitarian responses. So you are to avoid a situation
where you have the effect. Every time you have the effect, you have
to have a response. So we have to try as far as possible to avoid
needing to have a response. And to do that, you need to deal with the
root cause. Now I'm addressing all South Africans in general, you
know, yes, racial tension has arisen in certain areas, but that
has happened as a result, as a consequence, of of what has what
has happened on the ground, and when people, when emotions
overtake you, anger overtakes you, and anxiety overtakes you.
Sometimes you're not in control, and you're not thinking clearly of
what's being done. And that is the danger when, certainly, when
you're facing situations of threats, people on the one side
loot on the other side, people respond. Sometimes the response is
far greater than the looting is, and people die in the process. But
that is not indicative of the sentiment or the approach of every
single individual in those communities. By far and large, the
relationship has been very good. The relationship can be mended in
everything. When we had the TRC, when we spoke about the past, we
spoke about forgiveness, we spoke out about the difficulties. South
Africans are very forgiving people, yeah, and they understand
that these situations happen. But what's important is for community
leaders, politicians, premiers, President everyone to speak to the
people, to say, You know what, this has happened, and to calm the
situation down, and even communities and and religious
leaders. But in the different groups have to do that. And by far
look, as we've been experiencing the week, a lot of groups, what
all different communities are standing together, exactly,
preaching that, that we are all one. Yeah, we can't allow what has
happened to divide us and make us fall and and I suppose as a
parting shot then Doctor Suleman, let me ask you to to to share from
your experience, your vast experience in working in
humanitarian projects and seeing the impact of conflict in a number
of of countries in the wake of all of this, part of the conversation
has been the question of whether or not we have people in our
society that stoke tensions, that want to sow divisions, and to even
widen divisions where they have existed. Because let's face it, we
have had a situation in this country where tensions have
existed. It's not like we once had. We've had in the last 27
years or so, a situation where we achieved harmony within our
society. But you have observed what conflict can do to a number
of countries. I remember you took me to countries such I went along
with you, for instance, to Somalia, and and what we saw the
impact of conflict was there when you hear people celebrating
violence, as some sectors, some people in society, have done over
the over the last few days in South Africa, calling it, you
know,
just a just anger of the people, or Seeking to justify it. What
would you say is at stake here for democratic South Africa, with all
its flaws, those
people don't understand what war is all about. There are no winners
in war. Nobody ever wins in the war. It's only total destruction,
loss and hurt. And the sad part is that your family, your children,
your grandchildren and the great grandchildren, are going to pay
the price of your folly. It shows a total lack of leadership. It
shows lack of spirituality. It shows no care for the country. It
shows no plagiarism. That kind of language is the language of people
who want to be dictators, who are oppressive, want to destroy power,
self aggrandizement. Want to enrich themselves and use ordinary
people as further to achieve their own ends. Those people, let's,
let's, let's be blunt and say it like it is. Those people who
looted how many days is their food going to last them for four or
five days? And let's be more blunt again, a lot of black people have
been involved, and who they going to hurt? They're going to have
hurt black people. They're going to hurt their own families and
their own communities,
if not years to fix up what was what has been affected. They're
going to lose their jobs. And already, a lot of people say, You
know what? This is not good. You may have food for five days or
seven days, but what happens after that? If you had a job? We have
lost so many jobs in this country. Let's take for example, if Walmart
decides our stores have been badly hit and we decide to close down in
South Africa, that's a loss of 100,000
jobs. And if five people are looking after that one person,
there's a loss of 500,000 jobs. What did we achieve? We achieved
food for five days, and we lost 500,000 jobs. If other companies
decide we're not going to rebuild other stores where we've been
destroyed, we're not happy. What has happened? If sang some Samsung
says we're not going to reinvest in a plant? You.
Devon in an drive, if surplus says we're not going to rebuild in
mulveni What would happen in the long run? We've been used to
somebody else's ends, and they're going to promote their own thing
while we harm ourselves. Yeah, Doctor. MTS. Suleiman, thank you
so much, and I'm glad I could get you to tap into that aspect as
well, from your vast experience assisting in humanitarian
situations and conflicts around the world.