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KwaZulu-Natal is the province with the highest amount of Covid-19 deaths in South Africa. At the time this article was written, 12 people were reported to have died in the province thus far.
Netcare’s St Augustine’s Hospital is one of the most adversely affected, with 66 Covid-19 cases in total as it stands. Out of all 66 cases, 44 of them are nurses and 5 deaths have occurred. An investigation is said to be ongoing.
The Denis Hurley Centre, a feeding scheme in KwaZulu-Natal, has 12 different locations around the CBD where they provide shelter for homeless people during the lockdown period.
Raymond Perrier, the director of the Denis Hurley Centre, says that they are most proud of how different faiths have come together to ensure that the homeless are taken care of.
The Christian, Islamic, Hindu and Jewish communities have joined forces to ensure that the feeding scheme is a success.
“It shows that by working together, we can achieve so much more,” says Perrier.
Abdul Saeed Shjik from the Darulrhsan Humanitarian Centre, says that they delivered brunch for the homeless on Easter Sunday, which included sandwiches, fruit, water, juice, snacks and even hygiene products like soap, toothbrushes and toothpaste. The organisation is present daily and feeds approximately 100 homeless people. They have been there from inception and plan to continue the feeding scheme until the end of the lockdown period. The municipality and various NGOs are responsible for this initiative taking off.
David Ansara from the Centre for Risk Analysis in Johannesburg, says that the government’s initial response to the Covid-19 crisis through instating a nationwide lockdown was positive, however, the organisation is critical of the economic policy consequences of the lockdown.
“The distinction between essential and non-essential services, we think, is actually an arbitrary distinction. All services within an economy are essential,” says Ansara. He further added that instead of classifying services into essential or non-essential, industries should rather be measured on whether they can operate safely or not.
When asked about differentiating between keeping citizens safe and overstepping civil liberties, Ansara says that it is concerning to see the infringement of civil liberties as constitutional rights still apply during a State of Disaster. Violence from the military as well as the police is an indication of such infringement, as is price controls by the government which may lead to shortages and economic consequences.
Although it is difficult to predict how the Covid-19 crisis will affect South Africa in the near future, the country has managed to flatten the infection curve significantly. There is also uncertainty on the morbidity and fatality estimates of the virus.
