COVID-19 STATEMENT

And so we now join other countries in living with a severe lockdown, grim daily statistics, uncertainty and worry about the immediate future... It's hard to come to terms with the sudden change from the festive and carefree spirit of the early summer. It feels like a dream from which we expect to wake to our 'normal' life but cannot. What we saw happening on TV screens in distant places a continent away has invaded our lives. While individual countries and regions have faced their own horrors of war or natural disaster in the past, this pandemic is shaping up as a truly global disaster, invading all territories, peoples and aspects of life.

In true South African style we have shared jokes and witty clips about it as it approached, but I sense a very definite change in mood to the serious practicalities of simply surviving it – protecting our families and preserving our livelihoods as best we can and supporting friends and neighbours where we are able to.

The 21 day lockdown announced by the President came as we were preparing this edition of the Muse. As with many other companies, we had to make hasty, late night plans, in our case, to bring forward printing and delivery to beat the Thursday midnight deadline.

In talking with our advertisers, it is clear that it will bring real and immediate hardship to many people as their incomes are suddenly cut off at the worst time when we were trying to emerge from an economy already in recession leaving many without many reserves from which to draw. As much as this economic lockdown will add to the challenges, I do think that it was a step we had to take sooner rather than too late. The consequences of a wait-and-see approach are plain to see in the differences in the outcomes in countries that have been through it ahead of us. We would be foolish not to use their experiences where too many citizens did not take guidelines seriously enough to turn back the tide.

Right now, it is hard to draw any positives... I am sure there will be some when it has finally passed. Perhaps it may be a renewed solidarity and unity born of a shared experience, or a reset, personally and as a society, as we look at what really matters when the chips are down and where we should direct our energies and resources as we rebuild... I hope so.

As for the next May edition of the Muse...whether we can put one out will depend on the course of the next few weeks. If we can print one we will, if not we will look to an online version on our website www.pinelandsdirectory.co.za.

Go well and stay safe. Max Schutte