Covid-19 in SA: One virus, two countries
Mainstream media compared South Africa’s pandemic response to European and North American countries, claiming we had done well, but African countries in fact did much better than us.
COVID-19
For the latest Covid-19 statistics, please visit the Covid-19 Corona Virus South African Resource Portal.
Covid-hit crèches still await promised funding
Many nursery schools have been unable to reopen after forced lockdown closures and staff retrenchments. And, they say, the Department of Social Development just ignores their plight.
Anthon Bosch is no stranger to adversity
Covid travel bans prevented the snowboarder from being the first to represent South Africa at a Winter Games, but he has no doubt he will get there and become a flagbearer for social equality.
Street sellers look forward to students returning
After two years of struggling and counting coins even more than they usually do, vendors in Braamfontein and Auckland Park need to get their best customers back.
Blow up the outside world
The declining economic and social conditions in South Africa are creating the perfect breeding ground for the anti-vaccine movement to morph into extreme far-right politics.
Universities’ mandatory vaccination conundrum
Some institutes of higher education have made being inoculated against Covid-19 a requirement for admission next year while others are still debating their vaccination policy.
Social media spurs youth vaccine reluctance
Many young people between the ages of 18 and 35 are sceptical of the Covid-19 jab because of stories circulating online about negative side effects and mixed messages from officials.
Disinformation and rumours drive vaccination fears
Conversations with ordinary South Africans of all ages reveal a widespread distrust in the efficacy of the Covid-19 vaccines and the real need for accurate information.
No wonder the people are suspicious of the state
South Africans have no reason to trust a government that has forsaken them throughout Covid-19 and seems wholly unmoved by their economic plight.
Our veins do not end in our bodies
Covid can only be contained with global solidarity. Shutting borders is as irrational as it is prejudicial.
Cartoon | Knee-jerk syndrome
In this week’s cartoon, the discovery of the Omicron variant of Covid-19, the threat of which remains unclear, triggers a pandemic of punitive panic.
Vaccine inequity persists in Africa
While the world discusses returning to normalcy, an entire continent is still struggling to secure first doses and has yet to surpass a 10% vaccination rate, with little concern from international bodies.
No graves for the dead in eThekwini
A shortage of burial plots and viable land for new cemeteries has been worsened by the pandemic’s death toll, forcing people to buy rural land on which to bury their loved ones.
Women bear Covid-19’s silent burden
The pandemic has disproportionately affected women, who have suffered more job losses and greater emotional distress. Yet few can access the mental health help they need.
Zimbabwe’s vaccine decree leaves workers in a bind
Several companies followed the government’s lead when it issued a mandatory vaccination directive to all civil servants, but workers feel their rights have been violated.
How Covid activism can persuade vaccine sceptics
Cape Flats activist Joanie Fredericks has made significant contributions to Tafelsig in her 21 years there, including setting up a Covid information drive and a vaccination pop-up site.
Nick Hudson and Panda are wrong about vaccines
Believing them is deadly as Covid-19 vaccines are working in South Africa – and here’s the proof.
South Africa’s next Covid-19 frontiers
The challenges of the pandemic are not new, but the country and the continent still face a long road to adequate vaccination and getting coronavirus infections under control.
Undocumented people neglected in plans to vaccinate
Those without an ID, passport or asylum-seeker number fear that getting the jab will get them booted out the country – that is if they are able to access vaccination in the first place.
South Africa’s potential new variant
The most highly mutated Covid-19 variant yet is now circulating in most of the country.
Vaccines are a collective asset for all humankind
Medical science has often been used as a tool of elite power mediated through class, race and gender. But it emerges from shared learning and should be owned in common and used for the public good.