Everything’s a joke to SA… but the virus isn’t funny

South Africans are a funny lot with jokes coming thick and fast about the coronavirus. But maybe poking fun at a serious situation is how we cope in a crisis…

Take President Cyril Ramaphosa’s elbow-bump greeting he demonstrated as he announced the lockdown. Within minutes, videos with fun music about his elbow bump had gone viral.

Videos of people celebrating not working were a dime a dozen. As one boy said: “For the first time, I saw how much my parents hated their jobs.”

Even the celebrities joined in. Popular comedian Skhumba told Ramaphosa to come to him for advice as “I always advocated the closure of the country”.

Politicians are also up for a laugh. When the SA National Defence Force members were deployed, an army general sternly announced: “When we get there, we skop and donner.” To which Ramaphosa replied: “There will be no skop and donner,” with the camera on the general struggling to contain his laughter.

When Police Minister Bheki Cele said people can only drink “at their father’s place” during certain times, South Africans yet again rose to the occasion: pictures of a bar called Father’s Place trended with: “South Africans found the place Cele was talking about.” And pictures of drums of traditional beer circulated with: “We always have an alternative plan. Where is Bheki Cele?”

We also are excellent at poking fun at ourselves. As someone wrote: “Isolation is when you stay at home and have money. Quarantine is when you are broke and stay at home. But when you are broke and stay at home with a troublesome wife, you are in total lockdown.”

The news bulletins also didn’t escape the wrath of social media. A woman who appeared on SABC news talking about a “coronawaram” trended and left people in stitches. Then someone asked forlornly: “Does anyone know if we can take showers yet or must we keep on washing our hands?”

Venting their frustration about staying at home, someone said: “I’m in Bedroomfontein going to Kitchenburg.” And a video of a grown man playing with a brick in a dusty yard, was followed by: “When we were buying Play Stations you thought we were crazy.”

Funny, yes – but enough. It’s time to get serious about this killer virus.

I give up on South Africa!

Mandla Mthembu.

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