The fuel attendant might have been friendly or not, helpful or less so, but they seldom warrant more than a fleeting few moments of our attention.
That is, until the global COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent 35-day lockdown underway in South Africa. Now, unless you are an essential services worker on your way to work, going to the filling station is an occasion to be marked – something that stands out in your day. When you go to the shopping centre for food and other essential supplies, you now notice the security guard standing silently next to the shop doors, monitoring those coming in and out.
“These are the people who need to be recognised for their commitment to our country in our time of need,” says well-known philanthropist and businessman in the beauty industry,. “They have been asked to step up to the challenge, and they have done so admirably. The lockdown aims to flatten the curve in the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus in South Africa, and avoid a crippling influx of patients into already-constrained healthcare services.