No need to panic over stock
Don’t panic. The country has sufficient food supplies. Experts say the empty food shelves you have been observing at your local supermarket reflect panicky consumers stockpiling rather than disrupted food supply chains.
Vers un déploiement militaire massif en Afrique du Sud
La décision du président Cyril Ramaphosa survient après que des manifestations de colère liées à l’accès à la nourriture ont été signalées dans les secteurs défavorisés de plusieurs grandes villes du pays.
Julian May, professeur rattaché à l’Université du Cap-Occidental, au Cap, note que plusieurs familles ont pu survivre dans les premières semaines grâce à des allocations distribuées par le gouvernement pour les enfants et les aînés.
SA needs a place-based approach to restarting the economy
Using local and community contexts may offer a way forward both to restarting the economy and building resilient urban areas. This approach would involve targeting geographical areas and sectors. The case of the Western Cape, the province with the highest prevalence of Covid-19, is illustrative.
SA needs a place-based approach to restarting the economy
A place-based approach, which considers local and community contexts, may offer a way forward, both to re-opening the economy and building resilient urban areas. This approach would involve targeting geographical areas and sectors.
Place-based approach would involve targeting geographical areas and sectors where the infection risk remains low to relax the lockdown.
In confined South Africa, “it’s war” to feed in poor suburbs
Unsurprisingly, confinement has once again highlighted the very strong inequalities in South African society.
Violence and looting point to food crisis in South Africa lockdown
Several violent protests have broken out across the country over access to food parcels handed out by authorities.
Virus triggers African unrest: Riots break out in Johannesburg over food shortages
Unrest has spread across Africa. Riots have erupted in Cape Town over food shortages and the army has been deployed to ‘restore order’ as the coronavirus crisis rocks the continent.
Lockdown 2020: A humanitarian crisis is looming – where is the safety net?
Covid-19 is a public health crisis, caused by a virus. But the response to Covid-19, while necessary, is creating an economic crisis and a humanitarian crisis, which will get worse the longer the lockdown lasts. We need to confront the humanitarian crisis. Cyril Ramaphosa looked appropriately presidential on 9 April as he announced the extension of the lockdown for a further two weeks, to minimise loss of life due to Covid-19. He acknowledged the hardship already caused by the lockdown – “many have lost their income” – and he thanked South Africans for their patience and co-operation.
Lockdowns threaten childrens’ nutrition: why extra care is needed
It’s not just children already born who are at risk. During the 21 days of the current lockdown, approximately 240,000 South African women will be in the third trimester of their pregnancies. This is a critical time for their well-being and the physical development of their unborn children. Any nutritional shock may have severe implications, both in the short-term birth weight of the child and in the longer term, as stunting. There are some steps that can be taken to mitigate these fallouts. They include raising child support grants and extending a grant to pregnant women. And businesses also need to come to the party by not ramping up food prices.