In Pictures | How SA looks in the Covid-19 lockdown
New Frame photojournalists capture the first week of the national, 21-day lockdown in the country’s major cities as the government attempts to slow the spread of the coronavirus.
27 March 2020: A lone pedestrian crosses a bridge in Johannesburg from the suburb of Sandton to the township of Alexandra during the first day of the national lockdown authorities have instituted in South Africa in the hope of curbing the spread of Covid-19. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
At midnight on 26 March, South Africa joined many countries around the world and began an unprecedented lockdown in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19. The virus, along with the panic it has triggered, has worsened the inequality and the lack of decent housing, sanitation and transport already plaguing South Africa.
Once busy streets are deserted as people isolate themselves at home, afraid of exposing themselves to the disease or the police and the military that have been deployed to enforce social distancing.
We are eight days into the 21-day lockdown.
21 March 2020: The only passengers on a tour bus take photographs during a stop at the lower station of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway in Cape Town. South Africa went into lockdown five days later. (Photograph by Barry Christianson)
17 March 2020: A nurse educates commuters during a mass sanitising drive in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Taxi industry governing body Santaco gave out one container of sanitiser per taxi for drivers and commuters, and instructed people on how to wash their hands properly with soap. (Photograph by Mlungisi Mbele)
26 March 2020: Commuters on a bus in Johannesburg’s inner city. Those who relied on public transport before the nationwide lockdown were at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus because of the challenges of social distancing while using public transport. (Photograph by James Puttick)
Left: 21 March 2020: The only passengers on a tour bus take photographs during a stop at the lower station of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway in Cape Town. South Africa went into lockdown five days later. (Photograph by Barry Christianson) Centre: 17 March 2020: A nurse educates commuters during a mass sanitising drive in Durban, KwaZulu-Natal. Taxi industry governing body Santaco gave out one container of sanitiser per taxi for drivers and commuters, and instructed people on how to wash their hands properly with soap. (Photograph by Mlungisi Mbele) Right: 26 March 2020: Commuters on a bus in Johannesburg’s inner city. Those who relied on public transport before the nationwide lockdown were at increased risk of contracting the coronavirus because of the challenges of social distancing while using public transport. (Photograph by James Puttick)1 April 2020: The deserted Newtown cultural precinct in downtown Johannesburg on day five of the 21-day lockdown. (Photograph by Bonile Bam)20 March 2020: Empty escalators at the Gautrain’s flagship station in Sandton, Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Puttick)27 March 2020: A lone taxi is washed at the Bara Taxi Rank in Soweto, usually one of the busiest in the country, on the first day of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)21 march 2020: Abandoned trolleys in a parking lot at the Menlyn Park Shopping Centre in Pretoria. The number of visitors to shopping centres declined significantly in March as South Africans began to self-isolate. (Photograph by James Puttick)
23 March 2020: An empty bench overlooks Emmarentia Dam and the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens. Public spaces such as parks are closed to the public to prevent large gatherings of people. (Photograph by James Puttick)
23 March 2020: A lone woman at sunset in Sea Point, Cape Town. (Photograph by Barry Christianson)
23 March 2020: The popular Sea Point Pavilion in Cape Town is normally bustling at sunset. (Photograph by Barry Christianson)
20 March 2020: Friday evening on the usually busy 7th Street in Melville, Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Puttick)
Top left: 23 March 2020: An empty bench overlooks Emmarentia Dam and the Johannesburg Botanical Gardens. Public spaces such as parks are closed to the public to prevent large gatherings of people. (Photograph by James Puttick) Top right: 23 March 2020: A lone woman at sunset in Sea Point, Cape Town. (Photograph by Barry Christianson) Bottom left: 23 March 2020: The popular Sea Point Pavilion in Cape Town is normally bustling at sunset. (Photograph by Barry Christianson) Bottom right: 20 March 2020: Friday evening on the usually busy 7th Street in Melville, Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Puttick)26 March 2020: Textile shops closing on Helen Joseph Street in Newtown, Johannesburg, in preparation for the three-week lockdown. (Photograph by James Puttick)26 March 2020: A private, drive-through Covid-19 testing station at the Wanderers cricket stadium in Johannesburg during the first week of the national lockdown in South Africa. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)
27 March 2020: Vilakazi Street in Soweto devoid of its usual flock of tourists and locals on day one of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
27 March 2020: Empty streets in Johannesburg’s central business district. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
27 March 2020: An empty Sandton central business district on day one of the lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
27 March 2020: The JSE, the largest stock exchange in Africa, on the first day of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
Top left: 27 March 2020: Vilakazi Street in Soweto devoid of its usual flock of tourists and locals on day one of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee) Top right: 27 March 2020: Empty streets in Johannesburg’s central business district. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee) Bottom left: 27 March 2020: An empty Sandton central business district on day one of the lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee) Bottom right: 27 March 2020: The JSE, the largest stock exchange in Africa, on the first day of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)30 March 2020: Stalls stand empty on a usually bustling street corner in Diepsloot, Johannesburg. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)31 March 2020: A homeless shelter set up by the City of Cape Town. (Photograph by Barry Christianson)27 March 2020: A street in the township of Alexandra during the first day of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
30 March 2020: Residents on the fire escape of a building in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Oatway)
27 March 2020: Hillbrow residents gather at their windows and on the fire escape to watch as the police and army patrol Johannesburg. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
Left: 30 March 2020: Residents on the fire escape of a building in Hillbrow, Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Oatway) Right: 27 March 2020: Hillbrow residents gather at their windows and on the fire escape to watch as the police and army patrol Johannesburg. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
27 March 2020: A security guard stands ready with hand sanitiser at the entrance to a butchery in Kliptown, Soweto, on the first day of the lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
26 March 2020: People in a queue outside a Shoprite store in Johannesburg’s inner city, hours before the nationwide lockdown came into effect. The days before the lockdown saw many venturing out to stock up on supplies. (Photograph by James Puttick)
28 MArch 2020: Ten-year-old Kagiso Lehoko wears a face mask and gloves while waiting his turn with his mother to buy groceries at a Shoprite store in Protea Glen Mall, Soweto. (Photograph by Oupa Nkosi)
30 March 2020: An elderly resident of Alexandra township makes her way home after buying groceries. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)
Top left: 27 March 2020: A security guard stands ready with hand sanitiser at the entrance to a butchery in Kliptown, Soweto, on the first day of the lockdown. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee) Top right: 26 March 2020: People in a queue outside a Shoprite store in Johannesburg’s inner city, hours before the nationwide lockdown came into effect. The days before the lockdown saw many venturing out to stock up on supplies. (Photograph by James Puttick) Bottom left: 28 March 2020: Ten-year-old Kagiso Lehoko wears a face mask and gloves while waiting his turn with his mother to buy groceries at a Shoprite store in Protea Glen Mall, Soweto. (Photograph by Oupa Nkosi) Bottom right: 30 March 2020: An elderly resident of Alexandra township makes her way home after buying groceries. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)25 March 2020: Veronica Matontsi carries the bucket she has filled with water from one of the low-pressure, self-installed taps in the Island shack settlement in Khayelitsha, Cape Town. Limited or no access to water makes sanitation almost impossible in shack settlements. (Photograph by Barry Christianson)
30 March 2020: Queues outside the Diepsloot Mall north of Johannesburg. Security guards at the entrances armed with hand sanitiser controlled the number of people entering the shopping centre. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)
31 March 2020: Customers, including pensioners, woke up early to queue outside The Workshop shopping centre in central Durban during the national lockdown. (Photograph by Mlungisi Mbele)
Left: 30 March 2020: Queues outside the Diepsloot Mall north of Johannesburg. Security guards at the entrances armed with hand sanitiser controlled the number of people entering the shopping centre. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé) Right: 31 March 2020: Customers, including pensioners, woke up early to queue outside The Workshop shopping centre in central Durban during the national lockdown. (Photograph by Mlungisi Mbele)30 March 2020. Customers practice social distancing in the queue outside a shop in Thokoza township in Ekurhuleni. (Photograph by James Oatway)31 March 2020: A little girl accompanies her mother to the Shoprite store in Mayfair, Johannesburg. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)30 March 2020: A man holds a cloth over his mouth as he stands in line to enter the Pan Africa Shopping Centre in Alexandra on the first day of grant payouts by the South African Social Security Agency. (Photograph by Ihsaan Haffejee)31 March 2020: A homeless transwoman with a plate of food from a shelter set up by the City of Cape Town under the N2 bridge on the Foreshore. (Photograph by Barry Christianson)
30 March 2020: A cashier at Roots butchery in the Diepsloot Mall. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)
30 March 2020: Members of staff at Roots butchery in the Diepsloot Mall have to wear safety gear and only 20 customers are allowed into the store at a time. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)
Left: 30 March 2020: A cashier at Roots butchery in the Diepsloot Mall. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé) Right: 30 March 2020: Members of staff at Roots butchery in the Diepsloot Mall have to wear safety gear and only 20 customers are allowed into the store at a time. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)30 March 2020: Two men watch as South African National Defence Force members accompanied by private security guards check people’s papers at the Bree Street taxi rank in central Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Oatway)30 March 2020: Police officers arrest a man in a bar in Hillbrow, Johannesburg, during the national lockdown. (Photograph by James Oatway)31 March 2020: Teenagers play soccer in a yard in Newlands, Johannesburg. (Photograph by James Oatway)31 March 2020: A discarded medical glove in Mayfair, Johannesburg, on day five of the national lockdown. (Photograph by Madelene Cronjé)
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