Locked and Loaded

South Africa goes into coronavirus lockdown mode as the nation unites against a common enemy, despite economic uncertainty

- Tshawe Lama Tshawe

The busy Central Avenue in the sprawling South African town of Kempton Park outside Johannesburg has for years been a strategic business location for 63-year-old pensioner and street trader Dora Makopane.

With a thriving informal sector made up of street traders and small family-owned shops, accounting for about 2.5 million employment opportunities, South Africa’s small, medium and micro-enterprises have been among the hardest hit by the impact of the coronavirus pandemic.

Solely dependent on income from the public sale of their wares, products, and services - from car washing to food trolley assistance for delivery of vegetables, clothes, and food - traders like Makopane had to stop operating in response to President Cyril Ramaphosa’s five-week-long lockdown aimed at containing the spread of COVID-19.

As in any other parts of the world, COVID19 in South Africa came at great cost to the country’s economy along with, more importantly, loss of life and the impact on people infected.

The hospitality, sports, entertainment, travel, catering, liquor, and fast food industries - among key pillars in the economy - had to come to a standstill, due to lockdown regulations.

Plunge into uncertainty

For the first time, the country, with over 2,173 COVID-19 positive cases and at least 25 deaths (as of April 12), this year experienced a quiet Easter holiday break, with most churches, stadiums, theaters, schools, universities, hotels and airports deserted.

A familiar sight now is of security force patrols on foot and in armored vehicles enforcing the lockdown along with police and long queues outside banks and supermarkets. Most people have heeded the call to stay at home as citizens are thrown into a world of uncertainty.