JONATHAN JANSEN | While government fiddles, mere mortals put out the fires
As our dysfunctional, politely xenophobic state dodges state capture bullets, civil society steps up to the plate
23 February 2022 - 19:47
It is just after 5.30am on a somewhat chilly Saturday morning on the grounds of Grove Primary in Rondebosch, Cape Town. As the dark breaks I can see about 20, then 30, and eventually 40 or more people gathering around half a dozen vans. I am in the middle of a South African miracle.
The people around me are health professionals — dentists, physiotherapists, paediatricians, ENT (ear, nose and throat) specialists, gynaecologists and more. They have given up a day in which they could have made lots of money, all because a boy in Touws River, 182km away, has a toothache...
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