Diary Pages: Army and Police Brutality

During the Lockdown, the government has deployed both the police and the army on the streets to police its lockdown legislation. At the end of May, Police Minister Bheki Cele claimed that almost 230,000 arrests had occured for lockdown infringements. During the same period, at least eleven people lost their lives at the hands of

Diary Pages: Work and Income

Just as South Africa was due to move to Level Three, we asked our participants whether the Lockdown had affected their work and income, and whether this was likely to change during Level Three. Income not affected For several of our participants – across different areas – there had been no shift in their income

Diary Pages: Religious Gatherings

The government announced that religious gatherings would be allowed under the level three lockdown regulations. These gatherings would have to be limited to 50 people and congregants must ensure they follow good hygiene practices such as wearing a mask and maintaining social distance. We asked our diarists how they felt about these new regulations. Opening

Diary pages: Community Leadership

The COVID-19 crisis has made the need for compassionate, imaginative, democratic and dynamic leadership more pressing than ever. Community leadership can be hotly contested in South Africa’s crowded civic landscape. Since the lockdown began, Community Action Networks (CANs) have sprung up, joining the NGOs, social movements and political parties that are already active in many

A milestone or a deadend? South Africa’s social grants in the time of Covid-19

The introduction of a new grant and an extended child grant signals a hopeful moment in South Africa but we must not discount the challenges that lie ahead. A version of this article will appear shortly on Open Democracy. ‘At the moment the government is doing what it should of done a long time [ago]

Covid-19 and Cape Town: Frustration Grows As Lockdown Exacerbates the City’s Inequalities

Instituting Lockdown in South Africa, where inequality is rampant, was always going to be difficult. Since the beginning, one thing has been clear about COVID-19: It is no leveller. Over the last seven weeks, the COVID-19 crisis has collided with the everyday crises that numerous citizens were already facing. Prior to the crisis, many South

Diary Pages: Level Three

Following news that South Africa would be moving to Level Three on 1st June, we asked our diarists how they felt about this. The responses below show the mixed emotions that exist across the city: for some this brought a sense of relief but for many, fears still remain. Relief that some sense of ‘normal’

COVID 19 and the unequal schooling system

Fiona Anciano, SJ Cooper-Knock, Mmeli Dube, Mfundo Majola and Boitumelo Papane ‘Education in South Africa is in crisis’ declared Tshepo Motsepe, General Secretary of Equal Education, a social movement campaigning for ‘quality and equality in South African schools’. Since Lockdown was announced seven weeks ago, there has been much talk of an education crisis in

Diary Pages: Transport in lockdown

With transport regulations easing under Level 4 of the Covid-19 lockdown, concerns have been raised over the safe regulation of mass transportation. We asked our participants: How has transport affected your experience of lockdown? Has the opening of public transport affected you? Here, we take a look at their responses. NB: We have included combi

Diary Pages: Trust in Government

Exploring whether people’s level of trust in the government has shifted during the lockdown can give us an insight into how citizens feel the pandemic is being managed. We asked our diarists if the lockdown had changed the level of trust they have in the government, and if so, why. The answers were split between