Covid-19 Lockdown: Day 24
I couldn’t get this post out soon enough because I’ve been doing so many things besides working.
Yesterday I had the best shift, there was breaking news, and it was my friend Karyn Maughan who first tweeted about Zuma shuffling his legal team ahead of his trial next month. Later I would read a series of tweets, much to my disgust, posted by Bathabile Dlamini slamming my friend.
If you don’t know this already, Dlamini is the former Minister of Social Development and the current ANCWL President. The SASSA crisis unfolded under her watch and during this time she would butt heads with my friend on more than one occasion. A particular hard-hitting Q+A session post-briefing comes to mind and it is on the web. The exchange was unpleasant but the questions my friend asked were relevant and deserved a straight answer.
Yesterday, Dlamini fired, “Who is Karyn Maughan?” on Twitter.
She is my friend.
A woman attacking another woman publicly is not okay in my books. A couple of days ago, Karyn wrote a news analysis piece for the Business Day stating the obvious.
“It’s been almost two years since the Constitutional Court ordered then social development minister Bathabile Dlamini to personally pay 20% of the legal fees spent in resolving an almost catastrophic social grants payment crisis largely caused by her negligence and recklessness.
Dlamini has not paid a bill of more than R620,000 in legal fees, after a final demand for the money was issued on her in January by Freedom Under Law, one of the parties in the case. The remainder of her legal bill, from Black Sash, has yet to be finalised.”
Just to be clear, let’s recap who Karyn is. She is an author, broadcaster and the best legal journalist our country has at the moment. She is not a bully but a storyteller. I have seen her work and I’ve listened to conversations that she’s had with top government officials and lawyers alike. She is respectful and mindful of people and their circumstances. Her work ethic sets a fine example to me and I know that many of my colleagues respect her because of it. Even the ones who sometimes talk smack behind her back admire her. And that’s rare - to be admired by your critics.
Let’s peel off another layer.
Just because she does her job and does it well, doesn’t give anyone the right to character assassinate her on social media - especially not someone in public office. I’ve seen disgusting things being said about my friend in the last 24 hours and I’ve now stopped reading the comments. People that don’t know her from a bar of soap calling her racist need Jesus.
The media and politicians will always lock horns but how each party does it says a lot about their character. Our job as journalists is to ask questions without fear and without favor.
And if we are going to survive as a nation that stands together as one and thrives after this lockdown, surely tolerance and compassion should ring loudly.
Yesterday my Pastor preached about cultivating a God perspective. One of his points was ‘cultivating a positive perspective out of a negative situation’. My wish is that out of every negative thing said or done 10 positive things manifest. Here are 10 wonderful facts about Karyn Maughan.
She is a devoted Christian and she is guided by faith.
She is one of my best friends.
She slept on a blow up mattress for two days to support me when I swam the Midmar Mile last year.
She is obsessed with avocado and scrambled eggs.
She is a type 1 diabetic and exercises daily.
She will pray with you any time of the day, on the phone or in the car if you need prayer.
She only recently bought a tv and loves RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Good Wife.
She can quote CS Lewis at the drop of a hat.
She ALWAYS apologizes if she’s hurt your feelings.
She is not attached to material things. Half of her dresses are in my closet.
My friend is MAGIC!
