Words from the frontline as the first week of lockdown draws to a close

epa08339264 African foreign nationals from various African countries are moved by South African Police onto busses out of the Central Methodist Church where they had barricaded themselves in taking refuge since October 2019, in Cape Town, South Africa, 02 April 2020. Police had to break the barricaded door of the church to get hundreds of foreign nationals out who took refuge there fearing xenophobic attacks. The refugees were moved by bus to a secure location for the lockdown over COVID-19. The South African government is enforcing a 21-day total lockdown to try stem the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which causes the COVID-19 disease. EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA

By Christi Nortier

4 Apr 2020

Things changed overnight in South Africa on 15 March, and it won’t be back to normal for a long time. Daily Maverick’s Daily Digest will provide the essential bits of information about Covid-19 in South Africa and the world each day. Please do read on to understand these issues more deeply.

South Africa woke up to a host of lockdown regulation amendments on Friday morning.

New regulations have been introduced which allow the government to track the phones of people who have or are suspected to have Covid-19 from 5 March 2020 to the end of the State of Disaster. The information will be added to a national Covid-19 tracing database used by officials to contact those who might have the virus or have come into contact with someone who has.

The information will only be used to respond to the spread of Covid-19 and will be destroyed within six weeks of the end of the State of Disaster, said Communications and Digital technologies Minister Stella Ndabeni-Abrahams. Ayanda Mthethwa spoke to experts about what this means for privacy.

The amended regulations now allow for people to travel between provinces to attend funerals, for spaza shops to operate, for informal traders to sell food and for the government to take control of the country’s water supply. Greg Nicolson has all the details.

Covid-19 in South Africa
Infogram

As the first week of lockdown draws to a close, some lines of support are still being set up.

Durban’s homeless were finally able to move into lockdown shelters in and around the city. Some are small, tented communities set up in open spaces and others are rooms in municipal properties. Desiree Erasmus chatted to residents to hear how the “facilities” have been treating them.

On Thursday, protesting refugees were bussed from the Central Methodist Church they were occupying on Greenmarket Square to a location in Bellville, Cape Town, where they will live in large marquee tents with access to food and sanitation. James Stent reports.

African foreign nationals from various African countries are moved by South African Police onto busses out of the Central Methodist Church where they had barricaded themselves in taking refuge since October 2019, in Cape Town, South Africa, 02 April 2020. Police had to break the barricaded door of the church to get hundreds of foreign nationals out who took refuge there fearing xenophobic attacks. The refugees were moved by bus to a secure location for the lockdown over COVID-19. The South African government is enforcing a 21-day total lockdown to try stem the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 which causes the COVID-19 disease. EPA-EFE/NIC BOTHMA

Cities, provinces and civil society networks have been scrambling to set up places of safety for the homeless. Greg Nicolson spoke to civil society leaders about why this crisis can be an opportunity to make strides in providing better care for the homeless.

Residents of Upington’s informal settlement continue to wait for water tankers to arrive and for bucket toilets to be emptied by the local municipality, despite some murmurs about improving health and safety at the onset of Covid-19. Selby Nomnganga spoke to residents about their concerns.

Video caption: In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, the South African government has called for a 21-day lockdown where residents should stay home as much as possible. In Hanover Park though, a high crime area on the Cape flats, children can still be found playing in the streets. Here, many low-income families live in cramped spaces and survive from hand to mouth, and without a source of income this lockdown could have dire consequences. (Video: Ashraf Hendriks for GroundUp).

Near Port Elizabeth, teacher and education activist John Lombardo has raised funds for families in Joe Slovo township after his art school was closed when lockdown started. As Estelle Ellis writes: “In the week since lockdown he has provided food and support to many people whose lives have been turned upside down – with one mission: To get the precious artists he is teaching through the next three weeks.”

From Cape Town to Oudtshoorn, thousands of families are being provided with food parcels by the Peninsula School Feeding Association during the lockdown. The parcels are all funded by donations, and more keep streaming in. As Sandisiwe Shoba reports, about 9,000 families will receive parcels.

Around the country, community healthcare workers are at the frontline of responding to the Covid-19 outbreak. Many face a shortage of personal protective equipment and concern about job security. Alicestine October spoke to community healthcare workers in KwaZulu-Natal, Gauteng, the Northern Cape and the Western Cape about their concerns.

Meanwhile, two doctors who tested positive for Covid-19 have been forcibly quarantined in a Limpopo hospital on the orders of the provincial health MEC Phophi Ramathuba. The two doctors were in self-quarantine at home after testing positive when Emergency Medical Services officers and police arrived with a court order. Kerry Cullinan spoke to the doctors about their ordeal and what they plan to do next.

Daily Maverick has started a new series of profiles from the frontline of the Covid-19 response in South Africa. Ferial Haffajee spoke to Khadija Patel, the Editor-in-chief of the Mail&Guardian, on the economic obstacles set up by the crisis in part one of The Frontline.

The economic fallout is affecting everyone. As Jessica Bezuidenhout writes, one of the country’s top law firms, Werksmans, has said it cannot guarantee advocates pay. Some professional golfers and full-time caddies have been given some security after the Sunshine Tour promised them financial support, reports Craig Ray. Meanwhile, a chicken farmer in the Overberg is doing her best to deliver organic eggs despite hazy rules, writes Biénne Huisman.

South Africa’s electricity usage has dropped by one-third of its daily average. As Sasha Planting explains, this is both a blessing and a curse.

That lockdown has induced huge stress and anxiety is perhaps an understatement. The South African Depression and Anxiety Group, SADAG, has reported that it has seen an increase in the number of calls it receives since the start of the lockdown. It is also now getting calls from people who live alone or in an abusive household. Shani Reddy spoke to them about why this is, and what one can do to cope.

Daily Maverick has published two anonymous op-eds this week: one of a person who has Covid-19 and who is about to receive the results of their second test, and another of a policeman adjusting to his new role in the same uniform. Read their first-hand accounts here and here.

Poet Ingrid de Kok has selected two poems for this week which “both speak to the potential of language and gesture to reach ‘through the bars’.” Be moved, be safe. DM.

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