Lockdown challenges for informal dwellers
A short walk down Sirdar Road, one is met with a group of men gathered at the street corner, children playing street soccer and a group of chatty women doing their laundry at the nearest communal tap.
THE nation has been told to stay at home, practice good hygiene and social distancing. A seemingly simple request but a rather challenging one for the residents of the Clairwood informal settlements. These communities already have limited access to sanitation services and live in overcrowded shacks, less than one metre apart from each other.
A young woman who lives at the informal settlement on Sirdar Road, spoke to the SUN on condition of anonymity and said that life during the lockdown has come with unique challenges. “Everyday life has been tough. A simple thing like buying a loaf of bread is not as simple as it used to be, as the two nearby tuckshops that we bought from regularly, have closed down after the owners were harassed by the police patrolling in the area. Our children are home the whole day, they get hungry and need to eat multiple times in the day. Now we’re forced to travel to the main road, which is quite a distance, to buy bread. What’s worse is that food has been overpriced at the shops found there,” said the mother of three.
The woman, like most residents in the area, is unemployed and has been struggling to make ends meet during the lockdown. She added that a municipality truck stopped by in the area a week ago, to drop off bottles of what she believes was antiseptic liquid in 20 litre bottles. This was in efforts to relieve their sanitation concerns during the coronavirus breakout. “Unfortunately, not all families received these bottles. But that is nothing new in this community. Some receive handouts and others don’t,” she said.
A short walk down Sirdar Road, one is met with a group of men gathered at the street corner, children playing street soccer and a group of chatty women doing their laundry at the nearest communal tap. “Although I have noticed that street loitering has decreased, the requirement of social distancing is impossible for us. We live in one-room shacks with our family members and can’t be expected to stay indoors all day. We share one main tap, as a community we all share one set of toilets found across the road because they are the only ones that work. Life is just really difficult. I can’t wait for things to return back to normal,” she said.
Clairwood PR Ward councilor, Sharmaine Sewshanker said she was deeply saddened that the informal settlements are suffering the most during the lockdown. “There has been no food parcels or any of the other initiatives promised by government for these impoverished communities. The toll free numbers on the infographics don’t even work. This lockdown is essential to observe social distancing and to flatten the curve in the spreading of the virus, but how should communities that earn a daily income to feed their families, survive?
“Businesses that usually offer assistance during times of crisis have not been able to assist as they have closed shop. There are about 12 informal settlements in Clairwood and their livelihood has come to an absolute halt during the lockdown,” she said.
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