JULY 2021 - HELLO DEAR EMILY

Hello darling girl,

I decided to change your fairy garden path to the other side of the tree.  The path on the left was becoming too overgrown for anyone to walk up to the tree.

6 July 2021:  YAY!!  We were SO pleased for your Mom and Dad when they were able to get their Covid 19 vaccinations done at the Saint Augustines' vaccination centre today.  They will be able to have their 2nd shot on 17 August, then we will all be done and can start having family get-togethers with all of our family members again.

8 July:

I decided that you should have a farewell tea party for your dolls and toys that are kept in a big plastic storage box under the wrought iron bench on the patio.

We used to have birthday parties for them when we lived at Westville but its probably been 2 years since you've played with them.

I set the table with sweets, biscuits, chips, marshmallow cup cakes, ice cream and cold drinks.

All of the singing dolls and the toys sat on the bench.  There was Thandi and Cupie (they don't sing), Mary, Twinkle, Roxy, Incy, Wiggly and Barney as well as One-eyed Jack, Kanga, Snoopy, Pink Panther, a bunny hand puppet and a couple of monkeys.  You agreed to give some of the soft toys to Alex but you wanted to keep the dolls so they've gone back into the box.

That same day, the unimaginable happened.  South Africa was rocked by the start of the worst violence, rioting, looting since we achieved democracy in 1994.  It started when ex-president Jacob Zuma was taken to prison to serve a 15 month sentence for contempt of court.  A campaign to free him instigated all the violence and destruction. On Friday, people protested as they usually do, by blocking roads with burning tyres and rubble.  That is fairly normal.  But then rioters built roadblocks on major highways and started burning large trucks and delivery vehicles. 

On 9th July things were still fairly quiet in residential suburbs and Gumpie and I went to Clicks at the PineCrest center and had our 2nd vaccinations.  What a relief!  Now we feel that we are safer than before and even if we get Covid, we probably won't get sick enough to die from it.  We will still wear our masks everywhere and won't go to restaurants, cinemas or crowded places.

Also on 9th July Jeff made an appointment with a heart specialist because he's been having severe chest pains for some time.  On 10th July he was told that he had Wellens syndrome but after having an angiogram, they found that he needed a triple heart bypass. 

On Sunday 11th July mass looting and rioting started at Bridge City Mall near Kwa Mashu, then spread to KwaMashu Shopping Centre and other areas, even Cornubia and Gateway near you.  Soon malls, shops, businesses, factories and warehouses all over KZN were stripped and torched after being ransacked by mobs that took food, electronics, clothes and liquor. Attacks on centers also spread inland to Gauteng province, to Johannesburg, the country’s largest city, and to Pretoria.

In Durban and Pietermaritzburg, crowds attacked warehouses of major retailers and factories, which were set alight. Several burned until their roofs collapsed. The unrest lasted for a week until eventually the President sent in 25,000 army troops to quell the violence.

In the meantime neighbourhood watches teamed up with Communuity Policing Forums and ordinary residents built barricades and roadblocks into their areas to stop looters from getting into their suburbs.  Greg was on duty at roadblocks and your mom and dad did patrols for 4 hours and then 2 hours each during the night.  On the first night they went out between 11pm and 3am with you sleeping on the back seat of the car!

The two photos are of the cars and people blocking the road to Palm Springs
and other complexes in that road.

Over 144 schools and learning centers in KZN were looted and damaged. 
They not only looted places they set them on fire.

You and your mom joined a group of volunteers to help clean up around the IG warehouse which was gutted and destroyed.  People from all over came together to help the stores and warehouses that were damamged.

People of all walks of life came together to support each other and to help strangers get back on their feet.  It was amazing and very heart warming.

By the 15th July most of the looting stopped and a big clean up began.  Hundreds of supermarkets - Checkers, Woolworths, SPAR, PicknPays - were all destroyed.  Even shops and stores in rural areas were detroyed and afterward people didn't know where to get food.  For us, meat, vegetables, milk and bread were scarce so if your Mom found bread anywhere she bought for us. 
When I found potatoes and onions, I bought for Greg and Sharon.  When your Dad couldn't get Coke Zero, I managed to find some in Kloof.  

Eventually there was no shortage of food but the suppliers couldn't get it to supermarkets and many supermarkets were still trying to repair the damage done to their stores.  This is a photo of the queues of cars waiting to shop at Westville SPAR.

There were queues to buy food km long in all suburbs.  At Sandown, some people went out into many suburbs to find food for the people in Frail Care which was cooked for them by the manager and a Trustee.  Gumpie and I volunteered to share our meals with an elderly lady, confined to her cottage, who had no food and couldn't get anyone to find food for her.  Finally the staff could come back, some shops reopened and we could but basic food stuff again

.

On 21st July you had your first drip treatment at home.  

You came to us afterwards for afternoon tea - which is a tradition!  Just look at you - a little lady, nearly grown up!

Jeff had the triple heart bypass and 

spent a week in hospital but he is slowly recovering. 

We hope to be able to visit them soon in Simbithi.

July 2021 will go down in history as a historic month in South African history.  Maybe one day you will write about your memories of that violent week, remembering that people from all walks of life came together to support each other and volunteered to help each other clean up after the riots.  

COVID 19 UPDATE

With the huge crowds of looters and rioters - no social distancing or wearing of masks - the expectations are that the number of Covid cases will increase by the end of July.

Today the institute reported 12 528 new COVID-19 cases identified in South Africa, which brings the total number of laboratory-confirmed cases to 2 447 454. This increase represents a 22.3% positivity rate.

As per the National Department of Health, a further 334 COVID-19 related deaths have been reported, bringing total fatalities to 72 013 to date.

14 862 859 tests have been conducted in both public and private sectors