South Africa juggles COVID-19 and human rights policies

BY JANIECE CAMPBELL

South Africa ranks #8 in the world for confirmed coronavirus cases, with over 644,000 cases in total.

The country saw its first case on March 5^th, 2020, prompting the government to officially declare a State of National Disaster ten days later. A national level five lockdown was implemented on March 27^th, severely restricting the freedom of movement, closing all non-essential companies and schools, prohibiting the sale alcohol and tobacco, and introducing a night-time curfew between the hours of 8 p.m. and 5 a.m. According to the Minister of Police, Bheki Cele, nearly 300,000 people have been arrested for violating lockdown regulations.

The virus has highlighted and exposed South Africa’s inequalities and lack of respect for basic human rights.

Since the deployment of the South African National Defence Force in affected communities, there has been a significant rise in cases reported of police and army brutality, including at least 11 deaths thus far. In fact, according to Cele, several members of the police force have been apprehended for their involvement in various crimes.

“While we have a police service that strives for excellence, some within our ranks still choose to operate in darkness and in criminality. A total of 163 officers were arrested from the start of the lockdown for violating the very same regulations they were meant to enforce,” Cele said.

COVID-19 in South Africa has had a profound effect directly on socio-economic rights, especially for black people. Though inadequate food was already a concerning issue prior to the lockdown, there has since been a massive increase in food insecurity. According to data from a survey conducted by researchers at University of Johannesburg and the Human Sciences Research Council, 34% of people in the nation go to bed hungry. The highest levels of hunger were experienced among those living in black townships, where many live in poorly ventilated board shacks that are less than one meter apart from each other. According to one community leader, “the government wants us to do social distancing, yet our shacks do not have that social distance.”

With homes in such close proximity to one another, it’s hard for South Africans to maintain physical distancing protocols. In their townships, there are often shared or communal toilets without clean running water. There are over 70 water-stressed communities and generally, sanitation cannot be enforced. While unemployment is at an all-time high (30.1%), many that are beginning to go back to work face greater problems with overcrowding. Minibus taxis account for 75% of all daily transport, which is approximately 15 million commuter trips per day. While the South African government recently tried to apply restrictions for the drivers, limiting them to a 70% bus capacity, drivers defied the newly applied rules after finding that restraint made it nearly impossible to make a profit and earn a living. Some operators have increased fares by between 10% and 25% to make up for the deficit, though this directly hits consumers who are already living in poverty.

Nonetheless, there has been overwhelming support for the country’s measures to prevent the spread of the virus. A survey by the Human Sciences Research Council in April revealed high levels of compliance and a high degree of trust in the government’s response. The World Health Organization also deployed a total of 43 experts from various fields into the country to assist with the management of the outbreak. One of the key experts included infectious disease epidemiologist, David Heymann, who headed the response to the 2003 epidemic of the closely related viral respiratory disease, SARS.

As South Africa ventures though an extremely difficult phase of the pandemic, battling a rising number of infections, deaths, malnutrition and unemployment, President Cyril Ramaphosa has made it clear that the government will act accordingly to correct all of these challenges.

“We are working together with our social partners to identify further measures we can take to limit the damage on our economy, and to ensure that as we emerge from this pandemic, we set our economy on a clear path of growth. Even as our country faces deep and pressing challenges on several fronts, there is no doubt in my mind that we will prevail,” he states in a press release.