Imtiaz Sooliman – Violence in SA Organisations pledge relief

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.