South Africa is a country that has been struggling to get a firm grip on gender patriarchy, for many years men have been at the forefront when it comes to leadership and fighting for what’s right. It’s been said that men are natural born leaders with strong leadership instincts but looking at what is currently happening in our country, it’s evident how men have lost the plot in terms of leadership when it comes to the Covid-19 vaccination.
Over the years male leadership has become questionable and the latest covid-19 vaccinations numbers has placed an emphasis on the role men play within our communities. South African male vaccination numbers are low which is baffling because Covid-19 has taken so much from us as a people. South Africa started its vaccination drive on the 17th of February 2021 and from February 2021 to August 2021, South Africa has recorded 3,405,075 males who are fully vaccinated and 5,197,049 females who are fully vaccinated, this is a clear indication of how men have fallen behind, these numbers are recorded every 6 months and as it stands men are failing. When we think of men the first thing that comes to mind is protection, support, and love but this seems to be an ever-changing concept.
True leaders always lead by example, it is never enough to just advocate, being seen to do what you say is the best way to get people to follow. True leaders lead by example so what you advocate must be in alignment with your character, walk the talk to avoid incompetence. Men in our country have made it okay to cut corners, you would expect men to be at forefront of our country’s vaccination drive but yet again the women in our country are fighting the good fight.
It’s a known fact that men have always been afraid to seek to medical help, but we are clearly fighting a different fight, Covid-19 has the power to claim the lives of an entire family and yet the so-called heads of the family and pillars of the community are dragging their feet. South African men need to start looking at the greater good and understand what the bigger picture entails.
Men are standing in the dark and letting women do everything for us, we are unable to support and provide for our families because of job losses, we have become very violent toward our families because we are frustrated and yet we still aren’t doing anything to help get things back to normal. We wake up everyday and we see the effects of covid-19 all around us and yet we still choose to remain complacent, even though some of us have no means of feeding our families for the day.
Leadership requires vision and inspiration, South African men are currently, short sighted and uninspired. Refusing to get vaccinated is only posing a threat to ourselves, not getting vaccinated means we are more likely to suffer from covid-19, meaning we run the risk of having more fatherless families, and placing even more pressure on women to compensate for the lack of male presence in our communities.
Covid-19 is and will always be a huge problem until we all decide to take a stand and get vaccinated. Getting vaccinated is not a choice, it is a responsibility that we all carry to preserve the future. As men we need to really change our ways of thinking and start actively playing our roles at home and within the community. The covid-19 vaccine is the country’s best way to preserve life and to get things back to normal as quick as possible.
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