Author: Ground Up
By Mosa Damane, For Ground Up “Ithink the government is violating the rights of smokers by banning cigarettes. It is my money and health and I have a right to decide when to quit,” says Veli Hlongwane from Maliwa street, Mzimhlophe in Soweto. “I do adhere to the rules of Covid-19 lockdown … If a friend asks for a smoke I give because it is their risk not mine, but I don’t ask for a skyf anymore, ” he says. “The price of a Savannah fag jumped from R1.50 to R4.00 and the cheapest RG fag jumped from 50 cents to R3.50…
By Peter Luhanga, For Ground Up In the overcrowded township of Dunoon, Cape Town, dire warnings and the lockdown cannot convince residents to stay in-doors or wear masks in public. Here the streets are full. The Dunoon Community Health Centre started community screening on 17 April. By 8 May, 8,816 people from 3,306 households had been screened. 320 people had been referred for testing, and 77 had tested positive. This is according to data provided by Dunoon ward councillor Lubabalo Makeleni. He sits on the Dunoon Community Health Committee which interacts with hospital staff to get pandemic updates. The Western Cape government…
By Fatima Hassan, For Ground Up The COVID-19 global pandemic has unprecedented health and socio-economic consequences for millions of people across the world. Each country affected has introduced numerous measures, including public health interventions, restrictions on movement, as well as state and other relief and stimulus packages to reduce its impact. South Africa has a history of grand corruption and low public confidence in the state’s ability to ‘become uncaptured’ or to address its long-standing inability to expedite the delivery of basic services to communities, such as housing, water, sanitation, health and education, or prevent high levels of violence, mainly against…