16 May 2024

/ The Wrap /

Hi there 🙋🏽‍♀️

The National Health Insurance bill has been signed into law, and South Africa is in a panic! What does it mean?! Don't worry, we'll explain what it means🤭 and why you shouldn't be too nervous just yet. 

We'll also bring you the latest news from George, Gaza, and all the exciting happenings in the world of AI, TikTok, and defining "woman athlete" according to the law.

So, let's dive into your weekly update of empowering and easy-to-understand news, brought to you by Verashni Pillay and the explain.co.za team. 😄

Format:

🔊 Voice note by Verashni 

📰 Text: Keep scrolling

OUR TAKE: How should you choose who to vote for?

With elections just two weeks away (eek! 😵), you're probably getting all sorts of advice on how to choose where you put your X. Check the party's policies. Read the manifestos. Do online quizzes to see who best aligns with your views and beliefs.

But… we're not sure how useful all that is. That's because what a politician says isn't particularly useful. We all know they will say just about anything to get your vote. And policies and manifestos? Well, we've seen too many parties fail to hold true to their promised ideology and principles when it doesn't suit them. 

And, honestly, a lot of the policy and manifesto promises are a lot of hot air. Parties promising to bring back the death penalty, nationalise everything, change the Constitution, etc, are a little delulu to use a zillennial phrasing. Changing SA's constitution requires at least two-thirds of parliament to be in agreement—that's 267 seats. Changing the Bill of Rights needs 300. Most of the smallanyana parties promising to make big changes will be lucky if they get five seats. 

So, how should you really test who you should vote for?

The best indication of how a person will act is not necessarily what they say but how they have acted in the past.

We suggest looking at political parties' actual performance when they have been close to or in actual governing power. 

This will be easy with the ANC and DA, but other parties have also been governing in power-sharing coalition agreements in municipalities and metros across the country. How did they perform? Do some Wikipedia-ing to figure out when the party you're thinking of may have been in a governing role and where, and then use a site like Municipal Money to find out how they treated your money when they were there.

For those parties that have never contested, you can check the track record of the politicians involved when they were in previous parties. Rise Mzansi may be led by a man who has never been a politician, but it has recruited many politicians from existing parties. How have they performed previously in those roles?

It's a bit of work, but it's worth it. And it sure beats wading through all those manifestos. 😬

THE BIG STORY: Ramaphosa creates panic with empty NHI election ploy

With the ANC polling at a piddling 40-ish% ahead of make-or-break elections in a few weeks, Ramaphosa has deployed the nuclear option: He signed the controversial NHI bill into law yesterday.

As we’ve told you previously, this doesn’t change anything immediately, so to quote Health Minister Joe Phaahla, don’t cancel your medical aid just yet. Discovery CEO Adrian Gore said its implementation will likely be delayed for “decades.” 

Trade union Solidarity and civil rights organisation AfriForum, both conservative Afrikaans groupings, have already threatened Ramaphosa with legal action, while the DA and organisations representing healthcare professionals and medical schemes are also readying their lawyers. Plus, there is the pesky matter of funding the R200 billion-plus bill. Gore notes this means either a 31% increase in personal income tax; a hike in the VAT rate from 15% to 21.5%; or a tenfold increase in payroll taxes. All these scenarios are basically impossible from an already overstretched tax base.

And… the ANC probably won’t even be in power to see it through. 

But even if it never gets actioned, it has dealt a severe psychological blow to SA’s middle class, particularly doctors and specialists who are now threatening to emigrate.

To recap: The NHI aims to pool funds from taxpayers so all South Africans have access to quality and affordable healthcare, instead of just the 15% that currently have world-class private healthcare while the rest of the country is stuck with terrible public services. All this is rooted in apartheid policies, so the NHI is good in theory, but in practice, it’s a bit of a mess. 😓

Here’s what key stakeholders have said: 

🔹 The South African Health Professionals Collaboration, representing more than 25,000 healthcare workers, says the bill is unworkable, and their inputs to improve it since the NHI was first mooted in 2011 have been ignored.

🔹 Business Day reports that critics say the current legislation is unconstitutional, unworkable, and leaves the NHI fund open to corruption.

🔹 BUSA CEO Cas Coovadia said the only explanation for rushing the bill into law in its current form was the upcoming national elections.

We have to agree with Coovadia. We said it before, and we’ll say it again: Making empty promises to a hungry, poor working class while also panicking the already strained middle class is an ANC speciality… one we can’t wait to see the back of.

Brace yourselves; ChatGPT can now actually chat with you. 

On Monday, OpenAI, the company which brought you the generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbot, revealed the latest iteration of the bot, called ChatGPT 4o, which will have a new voice feature. The o stands for omni or “of all things” in English, and trust us, 4o can do it all. 

4o can chat with you in five voices: Juniper, Sky, Breeze, Cove and Ember. Not only can it talk with you, but it can pick up subtle nuances in your voice to make the experience as natural for you as possible. It is also capable of understanding images, videos and audio. It’s also much faster. 🗣

Many have likened this new development to the plot of the 2013 movie Her, starring Joaquin Phoenix and Scarlett Johansson. Johansson stars as Samantha, a flirty, funny and intelligent AI that Phoenix’s Theodore falls in love with. Hopefully, none of you fall in love with the equally amusing ChatGPT4o. On Monday’s demonstrations, the bot even exhibited signs of being a bit of a jokester when it told an OpenAI employee that he was “not a vacuum cleaner” after he gave a heavy breath. 

The idea of AI has been around for several decades, dating back to the early days of modern computing. But TV shows and movies have kind of turned AI into this scary, take-over-the-world technology. Who can forget movies like The Terminator and The Matrix, which feature scenes of human-like robots rising up against their creators? While these aren’t the most realistic depictions of AI, we don’t know what the future holds. Be nice to your future AI overlords, just in case!

Of course, like everything, there are dark sides to AI. Last year, a Belgian man committed suicide after an AI chatbot on an app called Chai encouraged him to “sacrifice himself” to stop climate change. Yikes!

Despite this, AI has the potential to save lives. For instance, in 2016 (yes, it goes that far back!), AI saved a woman’s life in Japan by correctly predicting her diagnosis, which had the doctors stumped until then!

We’re pretty excited to hear ChatGPT 4o speak… do you think we should let it read this Wrap for us?!

The death toll from the devastating building collapse in George last week has risen to 33, and now there are questions about how this happened and regulatory compliance. Here are the issues emerging:

🔹 Board registration: According to Public Works and Infrastructure Minister Sihle Zikalala, developer Liatel Construction was not registered with the Construction Industry Development Board. This was due to a loophole in current legislation affecting only “private sector clients.” Zikalala has said there will be a thorough investigation and accountability.

🔹 Engineering sign-off: The engineer who has signed off the project, Atholl Mitchell, has a history of very unhappy clients, who told the Daily Maverick (DM) they have had serious problems with the quality of his work and his forceful temperament. Some reported him to the Engineering Council Of South Africa, but “nothing had come of it”. The council told DM there was “insufficient evidence, based on the investigation, to suggest a transgression of the applicable Code of Conduct for Registered Persons”.

🔹 Illegal foreign workers: Several investigations are being conducted, including by the police and departments of labour and home affairs, about the possible exploitation of undocumented foreign refugees and the violation of relevant laws and regulations. Workers hailed from South Africa, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Mozambique, and Lesotho. 

The tragedy occurred on 6 May when a multi-storey apartment block under construction on Victoria Street collapsed, trapping workers beneath the debris.

As of midday today, the George Municipality confirmed that rescue teams have pulled 62 people from the site, with 33 confirmed dead and 12 admitted to the hospital. 81 people were on the site at the time of the collapse, leaving 19 people still unaccounted for.

Amidst the tragedy, a glimmer of hope emerged when a man was found alive 116 hours after the collapse. Western Cape Premier Alan Winde described the rescue as a miracle, with teams drilling to provide water and medical attention to the survivor.

Going forward we need answers on the issues raised - and accountability for those responsible.

Off with their…. followers? 

People are growing disillusioned with celebrity culture if TikTok is anything to go by. 

Disappointed by celebrities' lack of action on social issues, TikTok user @ladyfromtheoutside initiated the Blockout 2024 movement. According to NBC News, she's urging people to block celebrities, influencers, and wealthy individuals who aren't using their platforms to help others. In a video with 2.5 million views, she said, "We gave them their platforms. It's time to take it back, take our views away, our likes, our comments, our money." This movement dubbed a 'digital guillotine' or 'digitine,' aims to hit celebrities where it hurts - their ad revenue, business sales, and engagement - by boycotting their content and products.

The #Blockout2024 movement was seemingly ignited by influencer Haylee Baylee's now-deleted TikTok featuring footage from the fashion spectacle, the Met Gala, overlaid with audio featuring the line 'Let them eat cake' from the 2006 Kirsten Dunst movie Marie Antoinette. Some found the edit a little insensitive, while others agree the Met Gala was wildly distasteful in light of Israel's attack on Rafah in Southern Gaza, which currently houses millions of refugees, happening at the same time as the glamorous event. Other social media users have likened the gathering of the who's who to the dystopian young adult book and film series The Hunger Games. 

But should we expect celebrities to speak on social issues? 🤔

Legendary actress Jane Fonda did it right, even if she became one of the most hated women in America for her protest against the Vietnam War. Fonda also championed the rights of Native Americans and the Black Panthers in the 1960s. Recently, she has been vocal about climate rights and was even arrested in October 2017 and in 2019 during demonstrations.  

But for others, it's been labelled "tone deaf" and insensitive. Remember when Gal Gadot and other celebrities sang John Lennon's Imagine during the pandemic? Even Gadot herself called the video "premature". 

Maybe it's time we let celebrities be just that—celebrities. But it is disheartening to see them go about their lives, flaunting their wealth and nonchalance while the world is (literally) burning. Do better, or it's off to the digitine with you! Vive la révolution!

Caster Semenya's ongoing legal marathon to run her race faces a new hurdle as the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) kicked off a hearing on Wednesday, 15 May. At the heart of the matter is whether Semenya, a double Olympic champion and multiple-time world gold medalist, should be forced to lower her testosterone levels to compete in her preferred events.

Since 2018, Semenya has been entangled in a contentious battle against regulations imposed by track and field's governing body, World Athletics, mandating athletes with differences in sexual development (DSD) to reduce their testosterone levels.

Despite numerous legal setbacks, including a ruling against her by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in 2019, Semenya has refused to undergo hormone treatment, arguing that it violates her human rights and dignity.

The ECHR's involvement in Semenya's case stems from a landmark decision last July, where it found that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court's validation of the CAS ruling constituted discrimination and infringed upon Semenya's privacy rights. This ruling, while symbolic, highlighted the broader ethical and legal complexities surrounding the regulation of athletes' biology, with Semenya remaining barred from participating in her preferred 800-meter race. 🏃‍♀️

In a statement to CNN, World Athletics stood by its decision to bar Semenya: "World Athletics has over a decade of research, directly from DSD athletes in our own sport, that show high testosterone levels do provide an unfair advantage in the female category."

Semenya's steadfast stance against regulations mandating hormone treatment has not only defined her own career but has also sparked a broader conversation about the rights and inclusion of female athletes in sports. 

Semenya's absence from the 2024 Olympics in Paris underscores the ongoing repercussions of the regulatory hurdles she has faced throughout her career. Although Semenya has said that she believes her competitive career has come to an end, she is continuing this legal battle to protect the rights of other athletes facing similar challenges.

It used to be that the likeliest place you would turn to when looking for a job is your personal network or platforms like LinkedIn or Indeed. Increasingly, though, young people are turning to TikTok as a job-seeking platform in response to a job market that is slowing across the world. Not only is the video entertainment platform a source for job openings, it is proving to be a valuable source of advice as well. 🤳

The new generation of jobseekers is very different to previous ones: they’re more likely to look for a job that will treat them well rather than purely advance their careers. TikTokers are not just talking about how to get a job, but what red flags to look out for when jobseeking. The great news is that it is forcing companies to respond and change their hiring practices. (One notorious example of what puts Gen Z off is onerous hiring processes which take up a huge amount of their time and result in getting ghosted by the company - or never hearing back from them when they don’t get the job.) 

This is of huge relevance to job seekers in South Africa. The latest unemployment statistics released on Tuesday show that the official rate is now 32.9%, which is a slight increase from the last quarter ahead of the national elections on 29 May. Youth unemployment is far worse: 45.5% or 4.9 million people under the age of 34 do not have work. TikTok has launched the #LevelUpAfrica programme to empower local content creators and job seekers. Many have now found employment through TikTok or have managed to successfully monetise their content in order to bring in an income. 

The reality is that far too many young people don’t have a job or even the prospect of ever finding one unless something fundamentally changes. This pressing issue will doubtlessly form a big part of the decision-making when it comes to which political party will eventually win the elections. Who do you trust to turn the unemployment rate around?

Is President Cyril Ramaphosa safe?

It seems like there is drama within the Presidential Medical Unit (PMU), which is controlled by the military's health service and employs medical professionals who ensure the health and well-being of Heads of State. 👩‍⚕️

However, Surgeon-General Ntshaveni Maphaha has encountered unexpected resistance in his attempt to remove three members of Ramaphosa's PMU. The reasons behind this move to transfer the three are nothing short of shocking:

🔹 PMU environmental health officer Masegoame Matshelo was filmed in 2014 eating grass under the instruction of her pastor, the controversial Lesego Daniel. Now, one of the duties of the environmental officers is to make sure the president doesn't come in contact with food and drinks that could potentially harm him. Should someone who believes a pastor who made people drink petrol handle the president's food? We wonder.

🔹 The second member, Warrant Officer George Moloisi, is reportedly in Jacob Zuma's service. It's not in a weird sleeper agent way, but it's still odd enough for the Surgeon-General to have requested his transfer. Moloisi was Zuma's aide during his tumultuous presidency. When Zuma left office and Moloisi was set to be transferred to Ramaphosa, he asked to remain in his position.

🔹 The third member, Lieutenant-Colonel Motshidisi Sehotsane, a medical doctor, has served in the PMU for some years. Despite her experience, she has been operating under a cloud of suspicion following an investigation by the South African Military Health Service (SAMHS) Inspector-General, which found that Sehotsane had been offering medical courses to external personnel for a fee, using SAMHS letterheads and facilities, and allegedly using military transport for this purpose. Her security clearance has also apparently lapsed.

The drama! Despite all of these allegations and revelations, the three's transfers have been withdrawn, allegedly by a presidential staff member close to Matshelo and Sehotsane. Military police are reportedly investigating Sehotsane.

We hope the president is safe despite having all these questionable staff beside him. We wouldn't want another poisoning like Andre de Ruyters' now, would we? Stay safe, Cupcake!

Things are not looking good in Palestine.  Israeli escalating aggression against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip is now increasingly focused on the city of Rafah in the South, which is right on the border with Egypt. South Africa is now asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah, while the crisis in the city has prompted Egypt and The Maldives to join the case.

The total Gaza death toll has surpassed 35,000 since the conflict began in October, with the majority of those killed being women and children, according to Palestinian authorities. Millions of people have fled south to Rafah during this war, in part because that’s where Israel said they should go, making the attacks even more shocking.

South Africa initiated its case against Israel in January, accusing the country of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The ICJ issued an interim ruling in January, acknowledging that it was possible that Israel was risking genocide and ordering it to take measures to ensure that this critical line was not crossed. 

US President Joe Biden also weighed in on the situation, denouncing the prospect of a major offensive in Rafah. He emphasised that while the US remains committed to supporting Israel's right to defend itself, it would not support actions that could exacerbate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza. The Biden administration also announced a pause on some weapons shipments to Israel.

In a dramatic gesture, Israeli Ambassador Gilad Erdan shredded the UN charter before the General Assembly, demonstrating extreme outrage in response to a resolution endorsing Palestine's right to full membership in the United Nations.

His action came just before the General Assembly overwhelmingly approved a resolution which called on the Security Council to reconsider Palestine's request to become the 194th member of the United Nations. With 143 countries, including India, voting in favour of the resolution and only nine nations, including the United States and Israel, voting against it, the resolution marked a significant step towards recognising Palestine on the global stage.

What effect another ICJ ruling will have remains to be seen, as the first one did nothing to halt the war or even dent Israel's support around the world.

That’s it from us at The Wrap, a product of explain.co.za – simple news summaries for busy people.

The Wrap is sponsored by explain’s agency division. We specialise in content marketing for purpose-driven organisations, often with a pan-African reach. Mail info@explain.co.za for a quote. 

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Till next time, goodbye from the team. ✌️