Posted in: i-Blog, Politics, South Africa on Mar 18, 2020
By Mmamoletji Thosago
There is an urgent need to slow the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) in SA, irrespective of location. Urban areas likely to be hardest hit. Townships and informal settlements accommodate the majority of those urbanising from rural areas as well as migrants from other developing countries. The coronavirus thrives in crowded zones.
On Sunday afternoon I scouted three townships and one Johannesburg downtown market to casually assess preparedness.
Johannesburg downtown market; mood: ready
The Kwa Mai Mai market seems prepared for a Covid-19 outbreak. This is predominantly a medicine market after all – traditional medicine. There are also food stalls, traditional healers, traditional clothing venders, informal car washers, a tavern and primary boarding school. I noticed that all food stalls have water basins and soap. Across the street there is a running tap – works well for car washers but anyone can make use of it, so I washed my hands using a car washers’ green dishwashing liquid, which is used as a car soap.
Ekurhuleni; mood: business as usual, no urgency
Sadly, I do not find any Covid-19 preparations in Katlehong and Thokoza township markets in Ekurhuleni, despite these markets being adjacent to several health clinics. Economic survivalist mode has taken the upper hand here. The food vendors have wet hand cloths but that is inadequate for the virus outbreak. From casually conversing with Bo mma (female food street vendors), I’m informed that business has always functioned this way and they can only stretch a rand so far.
Across the road one guy is sharpening his skinning knife between two pavement bricks. No, he does not rinse it. He skins iskopo (cow head, a food delicacy for men – cultural symbolism is that men are heads of the homestead), with that same unwashed knife. There is no running tap close by to wash it.
I need to use the bathroom and go down the road to the nearest petrol filling station. Bathroom usage is charged at R2; the door has a slot just for R2 coins. I feel cheated: there’s no toilet paper, the toilet does not flush properly and the soap dispenser is empty. If you do not walk around with toilet paper and a hand sanitiser in your bag, you are in trouble.
Vilakazi Street, Soweto; mood: not losing the market to Covid-19
Vilakazi Street attracts tourists interested in township apartheid history. Its restaurants and that helicopter/wax statue place are fully prepared. There are water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) items including hand sanitisers and wet wipes. These restaurants are owned and managed by locals and they are aware of and practising ways to reduce the virus’ spread. I will be having dinner here, there is a reasonable African cuisine buffet special plus I can use a contactless payment method when settling the bill. Most importantly, I can wash my hands.
Rapid awareness coupled with concrete intervention is needed to curb transmission as much as possible. Critical experience from China is that during the initial outbreak in Wuhan, the response was not rapid and the virus spread swiftly. Across the rest of China, rapid response was applied and transmission cases dropped. Based on my Sunday afternoon observations I suggest the following rapid interventions:
Government
Schools
Business
Labour
Organised labour represents labourers with financial precarity who are likely to continue working as their jobs are a necessity not only for themselves but most likely for other family members – multigenerational financial support (referred to as black tax in SA).
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