Pandemic exposes ‘brutal inequ

Image by Brigitte Moshammer from Pixabay

Pandemic exposes ‘brutal inequality’ that exists in SA

Report by international broadcaster Al Jazeera says the high number of infections in W Cape townships highlight the continued inequality.

Pandemic exposes ‘brutal inequ

Image by Brigitte Moshammer from Pixabay

The coronavirus pandemic has exposed South Africa’s ‘brutal inequality’, and decades after apartheid the country remains one of world’s most unequal societies, the Al Jazeera international news network has reported.

The Middle East-based broadcaster with a worldwide footprint says the pandemic is hitting the country’s mainly black townships harder than areas that were once the exclusive preserve of white people. This observation, it says, comes from new data that highlights the lasting effect of apartheid-era housing policies.

In its report on Friday 12 June, Al Jazeera notes that SA remains one of the most unequal countries in the world, according to the World Bank, with urban areas starkly divided along racial lines.

Townships have higher rates of infection

It points to townships in the Western Cape, which are suffering particularly high rates of infection, as evidence of this.

“Nearly 12% of all infections in the Western Cape are in Khayelitsha, the largest township in Cape Town, even though it has just 6% of the province’s population, Al Jazeera says.

“By contrast, Stellenbosch, known for its winelands and a university town, has just 1% of [the] Western Cape’s cases and makes up about 4% of its population. Other hotspots include Mitchells Plain township, which has 9% of infections.”

We haven’t dismantled the apartheid city

The report quotes Edward Molopi, a researcher with housing and human rights charity, the Socio-Economic Research Institute, in Johannesburg. According to Molopi, townships have “become virus hotspots because we haven’t dismantled the apartheid city”.

Another interviewee is Chris Nissen, a commissioner from the South African Human Rights Commission. He agrees that COVID-19 has exposed the “brutal inequality” in South Africa.

“People say all lives should matter, but what about people in townships? Don’t their lives matter too?” said Nissen.

Shortages ahead of expected escalation of cases

Al Jazeera also notes that the government is expecting an escalation of cases ahead of a predicted August/September peak and rising community infection rates in townships. But it is struggling with shortages of test kits, healthcare staff and hospital beds.

“The city of Cape Town has partnered with the Department of Water and Sanitation to distribute 41-million litres of water into informal settlements to aid handwashing to stem the virus spread,” it reported.

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