Covid-19 lockdown takes its toll on livelihood and ability to work

First published in Daily Maverick 168

The work of freelance video editor Semakaleng Mogoboa became even more precarious once lockdown was enforced. “I was actually supposed to start working on a project the day after the lockdown was announced but because of lockdown, the project was pushed back,” Mogoboa told Daily Maverick 168.

Mogoboa is among the six million South Africans who lost work during the lockdown.

While being under lockdown meant that more South African households would be consuming more television, Mogoboa was unable to continue working because she doesn’t own any equipment.

“What I usually do is hire it from a studio but because of lockdown many studios were closed, so I couldn’t do that. There definitely was a rise in people needing editing but I couldn’t do it,” said Mogoboa, who is also a data wrangler.

Mogoboa admits that “even before lockdown there weren’t a lot of jobs” in her industry. Mogoboa, who studied film and television at Big Fish, said the loss of income meant that she had no money to pay her rent. Mogoboa then made arrangements with her landlord to take money from her deposit.

The drastic loss of income also meant that Mogoboa couldn’t afford to send money to her family in Johannesburg.

“I couldn’t do a lot of things. There’s also the fact that as a woman, if you don’t work, there are certain things you need to buy every month, which you now can’t afford,” said Mogoboa.

“[The loss of income] led to a mild depression,” she added.

During lockdown, Sisters Working in Film and Television (Swift), an NGO that empowers women in the film and television industry, conducted a survey to find out how many women in the industry had lost work. Out of the 106 responses received, 87.5% of the respondents had either lost work or a contract due to the lockdown.

Luckily, Mogoboa is part of the TedX community “and they gave me some work; I helped with their online events and that gave me enough money to attend to my day-to-day needs,” said Mogoboa.

As more industries have opened up since March, she has been able to get access to equipment.

The project that was supposed to start in March resumed last month “but things are still pretty quiet” said Mogoboa.

When the borders were closed as a way to contain the spread of Covid-19, Masibulele Mdimba’s income, which relied on international tourists, immediately dried up.

For more than 10 years, Mdimba has worked as a tour guide in Langa and in the Cape Town city centre.

“Spring and summer are our peak seasons,” said Mdimba. “When lockdown happened it caught me off guard. During peak season I usually make about R30,000, now with the lockdown happening during peak season, I lost the opportunity to make that,” Mdimba told Daily Maverick 168.

While Europe and China were dealing with increasing numbers being infected with Covid-19, South Africa’s first confirmed case was in March. “By then we had been fully booked until May, but after lockdown, bookings were cancelled,” said Mdimba.

The 39-year-old, who supports his child and other family members, was devastated by the loss of income and soon had to make changes in order to save money. “I changed a lot of things. I had to cut my medical aid, I quit alcohol, I cut back on unnecessary expenses because I just didn’t have the luxury to do that any more,” said Mdimba.

The lack of income also strained the relationship between him and the mother of his child “because I couldn’t give her money for the child”.

Mdimba said that he did not anticipate that the lockdown would go on for as long as it has. “The uncertainty also got to me, initially we thought this would be a few months, then we’d be back to normal,” said Mdimba.

Going for months without work was emotionally draining. “When I think about it now, it’s actually been emotionally draining. But I’m lucky because I have a good support system in my family,” Mdimba told Daily Maverick 168.

Although domestic travel is allowed, Mdimba said that there were few domestic tourists and the money he was making now wasn’t close to what he usually made.

With the announcement of our borders opening up to international travellers, Mdimba is hopeful that this will mean he’ll have more international tourists in January. At the moment, Mdimba, who’s been living off his savings since lockdown, said that his savings would only last him until January.

“I’m excited about the opening of the border and hopefully there’ll be a change to my circumstance,” Mdimba said. DM168

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