Covid-19 Roundup | Evictions and raids
As the court finds raids in inner-city Joburg unconstitutional, the City of Cape Town has again violated the lockdown eviction moratorium, beating a naked man and destroying his shack.
News
LGBTQIA+ Covid-funds project rooted in community
Multiple organisations have come together to raise funds to help LGBTQIA+ migrants, refugees and asylum seekers who have been shunned by the state during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Pietermaritzburg prisoners fear Covid-19
Inmates serving lengthy sentences for serious and violent crimes say basic regulations to combat the spread of the coronavirus are being flouted, putting their lives at risk.
Long Read | Covid-19 further delays TRC justice
The coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdown has once again delayed the quest for justice and closure by families whose loved ones died in police custody during apartheid.
Port Elizabeth hospitals flooded as clinics close
There are not enough medical personnel in the Nelson Mandela Bay metro to keep all its public health facilities open – even as patient numbers spike due to the coronavirus pandemic.
UN watchdog joins SA air pollution case
The government is facing a court battle about big industry’s emissions and their link to poor health. This is a public health concern and government must take action to save lives.
Superspreaders: Why Covid-19 is difficult to curb
Asymptomatic patients who infect large numbers of people derail government efforts to flatten the curve. For those without resources, preventative measures are impractical.
Slow rollout undermines Covid-19 social grant
Tito Mboweni’s special adjustment budget shows that the slow implementation of the new grant to alleviate the economic impact of the lockdown has resulted in a decrease in available funds.
Covid-19 Roundup | Unemployment and a vaccine
Unemployment reaches almost 40% as retrenchments escalate. Meanwhile, the first Covid-19 vaccine trials in Africa start in Johannesburg.
Bringing de-densification home in Alexandra
About 1 600 families in the Stjwetla shack settlement in Johannesburg are standing on the verge of seismic change. This is the story of one of them.
Covid-19 shows Italy’s lack of Muslim burial spaces
More than 34 000 people have died from Covid-19 in Italy, which has struggled to find burial space. Muslims have suffered the most in being able to lay loved ones properly to rest.
Eastern Cape healthcare woes worsen
The province with the second highest number of deaths related to Covid-19 has been experiencing numerous challenges while fighting the pandemic, and they don’t seem about to abate.
Durban shack dwellers illegally evicted
Just about every week of the lockdown, shack dwellers in Durban have faced demolition crews who burn their belongings and leave them homeless – in violation of the law, and despite the moratorium on evictions.
Workers hit hard in level three lockdown
Both private and public sector workers continue to bear the brunt of the Covid-19 lockdown, despite eased restrictions and some industries opening.
Covid-19 Roundup | Breakthroughs and shut downs
In the same week lockdown restrictions are eased and an effective Covid-19 drug is hailed by the medical fraternity, one municipality buckles under the weight of infections.
Eastern Cape nurses face Covid-19 stigma
Healthcare workers in one of the most affected provinces in the country are fighting two wars: the battle to get protective equipment and ostracisation by their communities.
The digital learning divide
A lack of access to data and hardware means impoverished students are once again at a major disadvantage as teaching moves online during the Covid-19 lockdown.
Kenyans desperate after mass shack evictions
Struggling with hunger, Covid-19 and death threats, the residents of Nairobi’s Kariobangi shack settlement are speaking out against state demolitions that left thousands homeless.
Modi advances settler colonial project in Kashmir
Delhi has introduced new domicile laws in Kashmir that critics say are aimed at bolstering its Hindu nationalist project to change the region’s demographics akin to Israeli settlements in Palestine.
Pietermaritzburg’s lockdown is a mix of good and bad
Covid-19 cases in the uMgungundlovu district have not spiralled out of control despite earlier alarm over the number of lockdown violations. But poverty and hunger lurk everywhere.
Covid-19 Roundup | Grants and evictions
Battling to access grants and funding, high TB and HIV infections, illegal evictions and a shortage of protective equipment are among the daily struggles now facing the impoverished.