COVID Measures Herald A New Oppression Editor Picks Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 11th May 2022 Although a week has passed since the new Covid regulations were published, the absence of opposition and outrage at their unscientific restrictions on civil liberties is unusual in a society which never misses an opportunity to recall the oppression of the past, yet fails to recognise a new oppression being surreptitiously imposed in the name of public health. The late, lifelong opponent of communism, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, warned of the insidious, piecemeal manner in which liberty is progressively constrained by governments. Despite the very limited effect that Covid has had in South Africa – data that has suppressed deaths from ‘flu, pneumonia and co-morbidities - the resolve of the World Health Organisation’s local chapter, the ANC, to persist in imposing controls on
Health MEC’s Vax Claims Debunked Featured Health Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 5th May 20225th May 2022 According to KZN Health MEC, Nomagugu Simelane (The Mercury, May 3) the unvaccinated “are more likely to be infected with Covid-19, more likely to transmit it to others and are at a much higher risk of dying.” But overseas research findings debunk those claims entirely. Sixteen months of observation by the Centre for Disease Control and the UK Health ministry indicate that vaxxing is ineffective in preventing transmission and causes depletion of natural immunity. Dr Meryl Nass examined the data of 30 million Americans, 75% of whom had been vaxxed and found that the vaxxed were three times more likely to develop Covid than the unvaxxed. Health MEC Simelane’s claim that being vaccinated minimises the risk of dying is completely at odds
Global Health Under Totalitarian Threat Health Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 19th Apr 2022 Two news reports in The Mercury of April 19 should alarm all who value freedom and fear the advance of Orwellian totalitarianism. On May 12 a global summit, on what is falsely called the pandemic, is to be held in Washington attended by so-called world leaders and their advisors who manipulate science for political reasons. Heading the agenda is the aim to have 70% of the population of every country vaccinated as the necessary platform to “prepare for future health threats.” Incredibly, while evidence abounds that the so-called vaccines are spreading Covid and causing increasing adverse effects and deaths, the media statement of the summit organisers claims that vaxxing will “save lives and build better health security.” The blatant falsehood of that statement
Historical Perspective On KZN Floods Editor Picks Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 17th Apr 202217th Apr 2022 While the full extent of the loss of life and property and the damage to infrastructure from the floods that occurred last week will be finalised in due course, such flooding in KZN is not exceptional. Twice in the past floods have occurred in April. The first recorded occasion was in April 1848. Between April 13 and 15, 1856, the Natal coast received 650mm of rain according to reports in the Natal Mercury of April 18 and 25, 1856. Whereas previously the Mgeni River meandered into the Indian Ocean to the south of its present entry point, the volume of water caused it to straighten its course demolishing everything in the Springfield Flat. The Isipingo Flat suffered a similar fate and was
Hypocrisy Of Media’s Tolerance Of Biden Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 11th Apr 2022 During Donald Trump’s presidency never a day passed without hostile, negative mainstream media reporting, the vindictive Russia hoax investigation along with impeachments and relentless accusations against members of his family. Yet Joe Biden’s blatant violations of his oath of office and un-American policies are devoid of critical mainstream media attention. The fact that the following actions of the Biden Administration enjoy media tolerance amounts to hypocrisy: Whereas Trump’s efforts to protect the security of the US southern border were criticised, Biden promotes illegal immigration. Already two million illegal aliens have been permitted to enter and been transported freely to all parts of the US. Yet Biden offered $14 billion to Ukraine to protect its borders. Violation of the 1st amendment by
COVID Draft Bill Echoes Rhodes’ Smallpox Response Letter to the Editor Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 7th Apr 2022 There appear to be strong parallels with how the outbreak of smallpox in the Kimberley diamond fields in 1883/84 was dealt with and the somewhat arcane nature of the amended draft health regulations regarding Covid treatment (The Mercury, April 6). Originating from migrant Mozambican workers, between November 1883 and the latter part of 1884, smallpox accounted for the deaths of 600 African mine labourers. For mining magnate and capitalist Cecil Rhodes, the possible closure of the diamond fields as a result of the disease was a prospect he refused to consider. Consequently, he ordered what historian Russel Viljoen termed “a conspiracy of silence.” Although his chief medical officer, Dr JA Smith, had verified the outbreak as smallpox, Rhodes blackmailed him into denying
WHO Strategy Is Disingenuous Letter to the Editor Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 4th Apr 2022 The World Health Organisation’s strategy concerning what it claims as the “unpredictable nature of the Covid-19 virus” is utterly disingenuous because it conceals the real intent of its strategy (The Mercury editorial, April 4). On March 3, the WHO began negotiations with more than 100 countries for a treaty by which individual states devolve their authority on health policies to the WHO. Thus, in terms of that treaty, which the WHO wants established by 2024, it would dictate health protocols and responses to be applied universally. In other words, individual states would defer their sovereignty over health matters to the WHO. It should also be noted that there is no provision for a public participation process in deciding whether a state should
The Caprice And Deceit Of The Covid/Vax Rules Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 2nd Apr 2022 There is a great deal of truth in the quip that this year’s April Fools’ Day was cancelled because it really was not possible to spin a yarn that could supersede some of the current outrageous happenings. One arena that is drawing egregious comments concerns Covid protocols. Last month US First Lady Jill Biden invited Congressional representatives and their spouses to a soiree at the White House. But what should have been a relaxed and informal occasion was marred by the terms and conditions of the invitation: those who were unvaxxed had to wear a mask, maintain a strict social distance at all times and refrain from eating. The latest Covid regulations gazetted by South Africa’s ruling Command Council provide a further
Unemployment Is Socialism’s Product Highlighted Letter to the Editor Opinion Politics by Duncan du Bois - 31st Mar 2022 The hand-wringing over South Africa’s unemployment “ticking time bomb” (The Mercury’s front-page headline of March 31) overlooks the most basic cause of this tragic situation: socialism is the parent of unemployment. Thanks to their promotion of disinvestment, sanctions and economic sabotage, the ANC inherited an economy in 1994 which already had four million unemployed. Ever since then the figure has ballooned to way beyond ten million. Besides fundamental incompetence exhibited at every aspect of governance, deliberate marginalisation of the only sector that creates employment – private enterprise – has been core ANC policy. Driven by inflexible labour laws, enforced demographic representivity, radical economic transformation and now outright “majority rule,” as KZN Commissar Sihle Zikalala prescribes, the economic state of the country adheres
Where The Vax Debate Should Focus Editor Picks Health Opinion by Duncan du Bois - 28th Mar 202228th Mar 2022 The reason The Mercury editorial of March 28 claims “the vaccine debate is not over yet” is because open debate on the subject is being suppressed by the mainstream media. If the stark realities of the subject were laid bare, a very different narrative would emerge. In recent weeks the very institutions tasked with monitoring Covid deaths and the effects of the vaccines have made highly significant admissions. The UK Mail on Sunday noted that only 6% of deaths in the US in the period up to February 22 were from Covid. In Italy, the Covid death rate has been revised down to 2,9%. For its part, the CDC has conceded that “coding errors” resulted in deaths ascribed to Covid being