City Lockdown Diaries - Issue 01

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1.1. Lockdown as a Response to COVID-19

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1.2. The Method: Responsive & Real-time Research

1.3. The Location: Gauteng, South Africa

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1.4. The Sites: The Places & Spaces of Lockdown

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1.5. Analysis & Artwork: Visual Art & the Lockdown Diaries

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2.

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2.1. The Surburb & Gated Lockdown

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2.2. Lockdown in Townships

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2.3. Lockdown in an Informal Settlement

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2.4. Lockdown in the CBD & Inner-City

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i. Annex 1: Selected Alert Level 5 Restrictions ii. Annex 2: Survey reports & key findings

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01.

The City Lockdown Diaries is a 3-part series of publications that share the findings from the City Lockdown Diaries project. This research project was formulated by researchers at the South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning (SA&CP) at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, South Africa.

As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold globally, lockdowns were a tool used by many governments to curb the spread of the disease. In South Africa, a national lockdown was announced as a tool to enforce social distancing and therefore stop the spread of the coronavirus (Covid-19) by disrupting the chain of transmission, while also easing the burden on public healthcare systems.

The “hard lockdown” – which was categorized as Level 5 - was initially intended to last 21 days, from midnight of the 26th of March to 17 April 2020. People were instructed to “stay home” and remain indoors at all times, with mobility and travel limited to essential service workers, and for residents accessing essential goods and services or social grants, as well as those seeking urgent or chronic medical attention. The Level-5 lockdown was later extended to 35 days, from 27 March to 30 April 2020.

The City Lockdown Diaries project focuses on this 35-day period. This issue, and subsequent reports, will present a synthesis of our key findings after analysing 334 diary entries provided by participants, supplemented with survey data gathered over the period. Each report focuses on a specific theme, visually weaving together artwork, diary entries, our analysis and infographics relating to the lockdown experience. We hope that this can be shared and appreciated beyond academia, as the experience of the lockdown became universal. The three parts of this series are: 1. Issue 1: The Spaces & Places of Lockdown 2. Issue 2: The Streets, Shops, and Social Distancing 3. Issue 3: The Struggle of Lockdown: Livelihoods, Stress & Fear The City Lockdown Diaries showed us that there was spatial differentiation in experiences of the lockdown. The diaries also provided a window into how people navigated social distancing, essential services and work. Through this, it became evident that the lockdown period presented struggles for everyone, although the nature and impacts of these struggles varied. The long-term effects of the pandemic and lockdown remain to be seen, and are undoubtedly going to be the subject of research in the future. This work is a small contribution to growing scholarship on the impact of COVID-19 and associated responses to the pandemic. It was only made possible by the dedicated diary entries of participants which allowed us into their homes and minds, even when it was not easy. To all of them, many of whom chose to be anonymous, we say thank you. As urban planning scholars, and as people who ourselves were locked down, we hope this series contributes to a moment where we are rethinking and reshaping our homes, neighbourhoods and world beyond this pandemic and the structural inequities it illustrated.

Sarita Pillay Gonzalez, Dr. Miriam M. Maina & Kagiso Diale

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1.1.

Lockdown (noun) (lɒkdaʊn): The imposition of stringent restrictions on travel, social interaction and access to public spaces (Collins Dictionary, 2020)¹ On January 23rd 2020, the first lockdown in response to Covid-19 was initiated in Wuhan, China (Davidson, 2020). The lockdown placed restrictions on travel in and out of the province, cars on the road, public gatherings and people leaving their places of residence. As the pandemic spread globally, Italy and Iran, two of the hardest hit countries by the pandemic, also initiated national lockdowns by early March (Graham-Harrison, 2020). By the end of March, it was estimated that 1 in 5 people in the world was under lockdown (Davidson, 2020). Of these lockdowns, the largest lockdown in the world was in India (The Lancet, 2020).

Lockdown as a response to COVID-19

South Africa was among the first countries in Africa to impose a national lockdown (Dunford et al., 2020). The lockdown began on March 27th and was proposed for 21-days. Like many lockdowns across the globe, however, this Level-5 lockdown was extended to 35 days. The Disaster Management Act remained in place for the rest of 2020, with various aspects of lockdown such as curfews and public gathering restrictions remaining for the rest of the year.

The lockdown rules are summarized in Annex 1 below (Republic of South Africa, 2020). From May 1, 2020 lockdown regulations were gradually adjusted according to different lockdown “levels”. As of the time of this publication (January, 2021), the Disaster Management Act still remains in place and various aspects of lockdown continue including a curfew, and restrictions on public gatherings.

From March, the year 2020 became as much about the lockdown, as it was about the coronavirus. The “lockdown” entered our everyday experience and vocabulary in an unprecedented way. The City Lockdown Project in Gauteng was conceptualized and designed in this period in response to this unique moment, and sought to analyse the experiences of lockdown of a group of residents in Gauteng, South Africa.

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The word “lockdown” was announced as Word of the Year by the Collins Dictionary, which registered over a quarter of a million uses of the word in 2020.

1.2.

The Method: Responsive & Real-Time Research

This research project focused on the province of Gauteng, in South Africa, where our research unit – the South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning – is located. Gauteng Province was also opportune for documenting and analysing residents’ lockdown experiences, as it is South Africa’s most urbanised province.

Restricted by social distancing, and the short-notice of an impending lockdown, the project called on us to be reflexive and adaptive in our methods as researchers. Our primary aim was to gather participants who came from a diversity of areas in Gauteng, South Africa. The 25 participants (mapped on Page 4) were assembled in a few days from our institutional research networks, as well as personal networks of activism, work and associates. We relied on social media, primarily WhatsApp, to collect text, images, voice notes, and video “diary entries” information from participants. Participants were requested to send through diary entries that answered two questions about their daily experience of lockdown: • •

What did I do?

What did I observe?

Most participants sent diary entries every few days of lockdown, and at least three individuals sent diary entries every day for 35 days. These diary entries were curated, transcribed and stored securely online by the team every week.

In addition to the diary entries, participants were sent two online surveys to fill in at the beginning of the 35-day lockdown and towards the end of the lockdown.

These surveys asked participants questions about their living arrangements, neighbourhoods, and experiences of lockdown. Additionally, an open survey for individuals in Gauteng was shared with people via WhatsApp, and on our blog. This received 127 responses from across Gauteng. Annexure 2 provides a brief on the surveys, as well as some infographic findings.

In order to engage with discussions on the Lockdown and Covid-19 happening globally, we also adopted a system of real-time information sharing to complement a long-term academic output. Highlights of diary entries and emerging themes were shared via Twitter (www.twitter.com/citylockeddown) , Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/SAandCP) and WordPress (www. citylockdowndiaries.wordpress.com).

This research project focused on the province of Gauteng, in South Africa.

The South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning is based in Johannesburg, the most populous City in Gauteng – South Africa’s most urbanised province. Gauteng is one of nine provinces in South Africa. It is the smallest province in the country, and yet the most populous and dense with an estimated 13.3 million inhabitants (Stats SA, 2016) and a population density of 737 people per square kilometre.

The province is considered the engine of South Africa’s economy, contributing over a quarter of the country’s economic output in 2018. The region’s robust economy attracts migrants from neighbouring provinces, the African continent, and the rest of the world.

As South Africa’s most populous and urbanized region, Gauteng also has considerable social and spatial differentiation. The province’s 4.9 million households reside in a wide range of residential areas from luxurious lifestyle estates, to dense overcrowded informal settlements. As with the rest of South Africa, the province also has high rates of inequality. As the location of the City Lockdown Diaries project, the province presents a window into urban South Africa and spatially differentiated experiences under the COVID-19 lockdown.

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1.3.

The Location: Gauteng, South Africa

South Africa

Gauteng

Key: Participant Source: Authors, 2020

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1.4.

The Sites: The Places & Spaces of Lockdown

Diary entries were received from all three of the largest Metropolitan Municipalities in the province: the cities of Tshwane, Johannesburg and Ekurhuleni, as well as from Mogale City Municipality (formerly known as Krugersdorp) . Participants were ‘locked down’ in different types of areas or neighborhoods, and living in different unit types, and residential arrangements. These included suburban, inner-city, township, and informal settlement areas. The majority of participants were from suburban and township areas. The chart below below presents the numbers of participants by these main typologies.

The main characteristics of these areas are summarized below: • Townships: Townships were historically developed as residential areas for black residents under the apartheid regime, and feature a formally planned and predominantly residential pattern. Townships were situated far from traditional CBDs and places of employment, and feature free-standing houses and backyard residential dwellings.

• Suburban: For the purposes of this report, we considered suburban areas to include traditional, centrally located suburbs, as well as suburban gated communities, including enclosed suburban neighbourhoods, gated estates and gated complexes. Suburban areas refer to lower density, low-rise, and more centrally located residential and mixed-use areas, that are traditionally located close to and around CBDs and employment nodes. In South Africa these were historically designated for white residents under the apartheid regime.

In the post-apartheid period, many gated communities have located themselves within and close to these suburban areas, while in other instances, largescale gated suburbs were built on the periphery of urban areas (Peberdy, 2017). Barring one participant, all of our gated community participants were located within these old or newer suburban areas.

• Inner city neighborhood: Referred to high-density, mixeduse areas, often close to older CBDs of major urban areas such as Johannesburg and Pretoria.

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• Informal settlement: While definitions vary, informal settlements in this research referred to settlements not planned by authorities which are often located on unsurveyed land, or on land that is not proclaimed or designated for residential purposes, and which consist of dwellings that are mainly informal (shacks).

1.5.

The 3-part series presents our findings, analysis and interpretation of the diary entries, surveys and other forms of media we collected during the 35-day lockdown period. In addition to the writing, infographics and maps, artwork forms a cornerstone of this series. A series of visual artwork for the City Lockdown Diaries has been created by Kagiso Diale. Each issue will use a different medium, and present the artist’s interpretation of the theme and main findings. Each piece has been titled and is also available to view online at www.citylockdowndiaries.wordpress.com.

Analysis & Artwork: Visual Art and the Lockdown Diaries

Note from the artist: For the first issue of City Lockdown Diaries, the notion and physicality of the concept of home were explored. The representation of these intimate spaces was done through a traditionally European method of depicting architectural context; through the use of watercolours. It was interesting to translate this into a South African context.

The paintings, such as The Monopoly Home, were created with watercolour.

As a medium, it walks the delicate line between the physical nature of a building seen in the detailing of its bricks and the hard, geometrical lines of its boundaries; and the nature of the space one occupies within it. The paintings are created using a monotone palette that creates a rich contrast in lighting to emphasize the nature of their geographical contexts, as well as the nature of the concept of home.

The Monopoly Home (2020)

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Home-Home (2020)

Urban Living (2020)

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Above & Below (2020)

Two-Room (2020)

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02.

Jozi Pockets (2020)

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2.1 When referring to a “suburb” in the South African urban context, one would usually be referring to areas that were historically designated for white residents that were well-serviced, with public amenities and well-connected to economic nodes. In the post-apartheid period, these suburbs underwent demographic shifts – in some areas more significantly than others, with Johannesburg’s historically-white northern suburbs reflecting the presence of a black middle-class (Wray, 2014; Horn & Ngcobo, 2003; Ballard, 2002). At the same time, significant spatial shifts have occurred in the post-apartheid period: wealthy suburban homes became increasingly fortified, older suburbs enclosed themselves with gates, new gated “townhouse” complexes have been built within and close to these well-established areas, and large gated “estate” developments created exclusive suburbs on the outskirts of cities (Czegledy, 2003; Bremner, 2004 Landman & Badenhorst, 2014; Harrison & Dinath, 2014). Although gated communities are not an exclusively suburban phenomenon in South Africa, in Gauteng many gated communities are found in clusters within or close to core suburban areas (Peberdy, 2014), along major transport routes, and in older well-established areas (Landman & Badenhorst, 2014). All but one of our gated community participants lived in suburban areas that were once-white suburbs, or new areas that developed on the edge of these older suburbs – these included Randburg, Bryanston, Pretoria East, Benoni & Centurion. For the purposes of this report, we’ve included these suburban gated community participants within a discussion of a broader “suburban” experience of lockdown.

The Suburb & Gated lockdown:

Proximity to Neighbours & Cabin Fever Residential gated communities in Gauteng are diverse spaces – they vary from gated complexes of single-storey homes, duplexes and apartments, to the larger and more grand and spacious gated golf and lifestyle estates (Landman & Badenhorst, 2014). Gated communities also refer to “enclosed neighbourhoods”, older suburban neighbourhoods that were enclosed with gates in the post-apartheid period (Landman & Badenhorst, 2014). In Gauteng, the development of privately-governed spaces is clustered along a corridor of development stretching from northern Johannesburg to Tshwane (Peberdy, 2017; Landman & Badenhorst, 2014). North-west Johannesburg, bordering Mogale City, and east Pretoria are also characterised by clusters of these privately-governed residential spaces. Peberdy (2017), in their analysis of Gauteng CityRegion Observatory (GCRO) data, show how gated communities are mostly concentrated within core areas in the province, although high-income estates and cluster development are also being developed on the urban periphery (Harrison & Dinath, 2017).

The City Lockdown Diaries confirmed the diversity of gated communities and the spectrum of middle-income to high-income households within them (Landman & Badenhorst, 2014). Of the seven participants who lived in gated communities, four lived in apartments, and three lived in houses. These apartments varied in size and type, most were in security complexes and one was in an enclosed neighbourhood. Three of the apartments had four rooms or less, while one had over seven bedrooms. Those who lived in houses in gated communities, meanwhile, all had six rooms and above. Some people lived alone, and the largest household had four members. In spite of this diversity of gated community living, the regular participants who shared diary entries of lockdown in suburban gated communities had some commonalities: they used a car to buy necessities and had minimal engagement with the street. For those living in apartments, there was a sense of being “stuck” in space, and regular reference was made to neighbours.

Accounts of street life were notably absent from the diary entries of lockdown from gated communities. Residents drove their own cars to get basic food goods during lockdown. Their observations of the street were made while driving on the way to the shops or work.

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Day 3 29 March 2020 Bryanston

“...I went to the shops today; the roads were completely empty. I mean, I drove over William Nicol2 and I saw maybe two cars.”

- Kirsten (30) Diary entries from gated communities were almost exclusively about life in their homes, or within the walls of their complex or estate. Individuals rarely left their homes, and mainly did so in their private vehicles to go to the shops, take a drive, or, in the case of one essential service worker – to go to the hospital where she worked. Those living in homes with four or less rooms described feeling “stuck, “claustrophobic”, “stifled” and experiencing “cabin fever” within the first two weeks of lockdown. These feelings were connected to mental health struggles – such as anxiety, nervousness, and depression - as the lockdown continued (these will be discussed in Issue 3 of the City Lockdown Diaries).

Day 2, 28 March, 2020 Bryanston

“I’m starting to feel … I don’t want to say stir-crazy, but it would be nice to be outside of the confines [giggles] of this complex.”

- Kirsten (30) Day 4 30 March 2020 Pretoria East

“Whilst I was looking forward to escaping the 4 walls of my small apartment which had now become somewhat of a prison for me in the last few weeks... I was also thinking about what I was leaving behind as I drove out the estate...”

Day 15 10 April 2020 Randburg

- Dr. G (29)

“I also went to the store today. I didn’t necessarily need to go the store, but I felt like I needed to get out of the house just for my

own mental, like, health perspective. You know, I’m stuck in the house and its week 2, getting a bit nervous about going into week 3 and basically starting the whole process again. Ja, it’s going to be quite tough…Ah fuck, I don’t know, I just hope this thing ends soon. Ja, it’s just, I don’t like feeling trapped and unable to do certain things that usually make me happy and just getting out of the house.”

- Anonymous (31) Confined to their homes and in close proximity to their neighbours, entries from gated complexes made regular reference to neighbours and their activities. Mokoena* wrote about helping her neighbours with homework and an emergency, while Kirsten wrote about hearing the neighbours talking, shuffling, on zoom calls, or taking out their rubbish in her quiet complex.

Two participants wrote extensively about a heightened sense of proximity to neighbours. Dr G*, writing from a gated apartment complex in Pretoria East, became increasingly frustrated with the design of the complex, and the noise.

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2.

A main road along the northern suburbs and economic node of Sandton in Johannesburg.

Towers Above (2020)

Day 16 11 April 2020 Pretoria East

“ If there’s one thing I’ll never do again its live in a stacked housing complex/security estate. Never again!

This Rona business has forced me to reconsider my life choices in terms of housing and this right here - is nooot it!

The walls are paper thin. The rooms are too small and the neighbors are too loud.

Lord knows how this place has also converted me from a child lover to that bitter aunty who hisses and shooshes at loud kids on a trampoline. But I mean... those trampoline kids are driving me mad. Seriously.

They have a schedule that starts horrifyingly early at 9am and it will be the tweaking of that damn thing the whooooooooooooooooooole day until they fatigue and pass out.

Then the other neighbors take the reigns with their stereos and house parties....

Lockdown routine is the pits.”

- Dr. G (29) 12

There were also positive reflections about the proximity that came with lockdown in gated communities. Anonymous, living in his own in an apartment in a gated complex in Randburg, was struck by how the lockdown had brought the neighbours in his complex closer together. As the lockdown progressed, he wrote about increased interaction between neighbours, with people engaging with each other in ways that they had not done previously – across race and age groups. In one diary entry he described with some humour how an elderly white neighbour took a selfie with her younger black neighbours – an occurrence he would never have imagined happening before.

Day 11 06 April 2020 Randburg

“ Um, ya nothing in particular interesting happened today. Except for my complex now - they seem to be having this exercise

routine like, by like a grass area. They all spread out so it’s not like anyone is within touching distance of each other. I think it’s one of those where, you know, um, as people are staying in their homes by themselves, there’s need for human interaction and, you know, they are getting it from their neighbours. Even though, these are people let’s say twelve days ago they wouldn’t necessarily talk to one another on a regular basis. So it’s quite interesting to see that.”

- Anonymous (31) One participant lived in an apartment building in an enclosed neighbourhood.

She, like those living in gated complexes, made regular reference to the sounds, actions and appearance of her neighbours. Like the participant from Randburg, she found herself interacting with her neighbours in a new way during lockdown. She joined in on communal clapping that happened at 7pm to support essential service workers, including nurses living in their apartment building.

Day 10 05 April 2020 Observatory

“…There were a lot more people on their balconies in my building today. I saw a man who I’ve seen around but could not have

told you which unit he lived in, but I saw him now. And I saw a woman who looked around my age but I’ve never seen her before, but also she was far so I could have been mistaken about the age thing. Um, Nicola was on her balcony. Just everybody was out.

I guess also because it’s been so rainy all along and, and we can’t go anywhere so we kinda feel trapped so I’m glad everyone was taking time to appreciate the sun coming out today. Um, quiet. Um, but there was the sound of the kid playing basketball behind us and kids in the front of our building like running around. The woman who lives on the property right in front of us um, was working out. Uh, her routine was a bit lack lustre. Like the running she was doing, just seemed like she wasn’t really in it. Um, also I’m being jealous that she has the space to do that outside.”

- Tshiamo (30) Day 15 10 April 2020 Observatory

“We gave two hot cross buns to our direct next door neighbour and then the guy down the corridor, I don’t know if they didn’t

hear us ring the bell, or if it doesn’t work, but anyway we left it and then I made dinner and then we took hot cross buns down to our friend. But before that we had the whole clapping thing and I went down and clapped. And I think I got really into it…it’s just not the kind of thing I’d get involved in, but it feels really nice to clap along with everyone and just a sense of community and camaraderie and whatever other c-words that are positive come up. So I think I’ll participate whenever they do it.”

- Tshiamo (30)

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Porch Invitation (2020)

Uneventful & unbothered Only three of our suburban participants lived in areas that were not gated.

These participants lived in free-standing houses with six rooms or more in the established and former-white suburbs of Florida Park, Akasia and Melville – all of which are connected to major transport routes, shops and public amenities. Like those living in gated complexes, estates and enclosed neighbourhoods, diary entries of participants living in these established suburbs indicated that they spent most of their time in their homes, and only left their homes when they needed to drive to get essentials from the shops. The experience of going to the shops, as it was for participants across Gauteng, became an “event”. For suburban participants going to the shops meant getting into a car and required minimal interaction with other people or the street. One participant, who did not have her own vehicle, described difficulty in accessing an Uber during lockdown when she needed to purchase something at the shops:

Day 6 01 April 2020 Florida Park

“But one thing I can like say is transportation…there was no Uber and it was a hassle for me to get transportation. I had to ask a friend of a friend to transport me and that person acted as my Bolt or Uber. But yeah, it was just quite surprising because the images that you see on TV, with the roadblocks, uhm police presence, it’s not really a reality this side, you know? Yeah, that was quite interesting”

- Zion (28)

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Diary entries from the established suburbs with free-standing homes of Melville, Akasia, and Observatory made reference to seeing people contravening Level-5 lockdown rules: meeting on the street, jogging and driving with many people in one vehicle. They rarely, if ever, saw any form or security or police.

Day 6 01 April 2020 Akasia

“The people of Pretoria North were out in full force like a normal day and there was absolutely no checkpoint whatsoever, no police visibility at all, no SANDF visibility at all. It looked like just a normal day with people in their cars in fours and fives…”

Day 13 08 April 2020 Observatory

- Buhle (33)

“...This morning I saw a group of five woman, like, young, but like, in the late twenties, early thirties was the

youngest of them. Like, middle aged…But anyway they had gone out for a walk I guess but they stood at the corner of our building for a long time. Not standing far from each other, like far enough from each other, and just chatting. Like you could see their hand, they weren’t doing anything other than going for a walk and um, chatting, which really annoyed me today. I feel like we would all like to get out of our houses, but the situation is that we all have to stay home. And if more and more people are just being lawless, then they going to have to extend this lock down, like [sighs] fine then. Be lawless and go for a walk, but I don’t understand why you wouldn’t still distance yourself socially”

- Tshiamo (30) Day 29 24 April 2020 Melville

“After the President’s speech it sounds as if people walking and congregating already in some areas today…so messaging

obviously not clear. People seem to think we’re thro it now! …Also, a few cars on the road – think people think everything is over, and we haven’t really begun!”

- Anonymous (66) The experience of the lockdown in these areas sat uncomfortably with two suburban respondents, Zion* (28) and Buhle* (30). These respondents saw their suburban experience as being starkly different to the images that were circulating on social media of people being harassed by police and the military – particularly in some of the country’s townships.

Day 11 06 April 2020 Akasia

“…we decided to do some gardening... I think I’m grateful for the fact that there’s no soldiers outside chasing us back inside

while we cut shrubs by the gate. Um, I think it’s, it’s – the lockdown – I’ve always been aware of my privilege - but because I don’t fall within a certain tax bracket I never really saw myself as someone who is middle class but uh, this lockdown is ya, it’s revealing a lot I guess. One can see I’m lower middle class. Um, I certainly am very privileged. Um, my experiences here are nothing in comparison to say, the experiences of my cousin in Pietermaritzburg ko [in] Kwa Zulu Natal, in a township called Sobantu.”

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- Buhle (33)

Day 4 30 March 2020 Florida Park

“…There was just a video circulating of one [where] some police officers [were] assaulting people and people justifying that and

also soldiers finding people on the streets and ridiculing them because they’ve got no valid reason for being outside. But what I noticed about those videos is that, uhm, they would stop people who were walking and uhm, people in cars were not stopped, there was no road block and obviously the videos are like in Alexandra and your Hamanskraal and all of that because I have never – well even the police presence here is not – I only saw the police when I went outside yesterday, but, I haven’t seen the military here at all….when I was walking here outside, nobody asked me anything…

But I am very uncomfortable with the fact that our military roaming our streets and we are literally celebrating them [for] assaulting people and ridiculing people. And the fact that some people are subjected to that presence while others are not, you know, [sighs] it’s just exhausting just also hearing, uhm, some of the comments [that] advantaged and privileged people are making and I guess for me, now, I see how advantaged I am, you know...yeah. It’s been a wake-up call as to say that where I am situated and the means that I have allow me to have a certain level of being comfortable, you know?”

In the same vein, a participant from the leafy Johannesburg suburb of Melville noted that the lockdown concerns of her middle-class neighbours were privileged problems.

- Zion (28)

Day 3 29 March 2020 Melville

“Opened side door to the street to check if Pikitup had been (they are short staffed, so a day or so late in doing rounds, but we’re

lucky they’re collecting at all) and spied a runner running up the deserted street. Then all the people in Melville complaining on the councillor’s issues WhatsApp group that they hadn’t had their bins collected yet, so I had to comment that we should be grateful in a National Disaster to get a service at all! All middle class/first world problems and stop complaining!”

- Anonymous (66) Another observed spatial privilege that characterised suburban experiences of lockdown, whether in gated communities or ungated suburbs, was access to greenery and outdoor space within the premises of where they stayed.

Seven out of 9 suburban respondents had access to a yard or garden. Only 2 of the 4 respondents who lived in apartments in gated communities had access to a yard or garden. Those who did have a garden, mostly those in houses, made reference to activites in their garden – having a braai3 , taking a break, doing some gardening, or exercising in their personal gardens.

Day 2 28 March 2020 Centurion

“So today I decided to create a home obstacle course for cardio workouts over the next 20 days, using existing garden

fixtures, steps & the like. Also heard a funny story about a resident caught playing golf on our golf estate course, contrary to the ban on all such activities. When asked, his response was that he thought it was fine if he played by himself. ”

- Anonymous (59)

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A braai is a South African term for a barbeque

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Day 3 29 March 2020 Florida Park

“…Uhm, I just first went outside, and I walked around the yard, you know? To just to clear my mind…”

- Zion (28) Day 5 31 March 2020 Melville

“…Managed to just about walk 5kms today round the house – the dogs wouldn’t come with me all the way, and it does involve going thro’ the odd bush!”

A resident in a gated complex without a garden, meanwhile, observed how the limited space and restrictions on common areas was taking its toll on people.

- Anonymous (66)

Day 21 16 April 2020 Pretoria East

“…The neighbors have started meandering around the complex... I don’t blame them. They feel as stifled as much as I do.

Stifled and claustrophobic.

Its adorable though that most people have started devising unique ways to exercise on their tiny balconies / in their limited space. I even spotted the dad at the trampoline kids house using the baby as an arm weight during his exercise routine...

That was something. ” The lockdown diary entries from gated suburban communities and ungated suburbs shared some important insights on the spatial and social organisation of post-apartheid suburbia - a combination of today’s suburban archetype of the gated complex, and the historical whites-only suburban neighbourhood.

One of the most distinct themes of lockdown in suburbia, whether in a gated community or not, was that people rarely, if ever, walked to access services or goods. This was evident in people’s experiences and observations of life during lockdown. Street life was rarely mentioned in diary entries, and observations of the world beyond the walls of where they lived were often made from the window of a vehicle. These findings were supported by data from an open online survey we conducted in May 2020, in which the majority of participants were suburban and gated community residents. Over 70% of the 112 suburban and gated community participants said that before lockdown, they used a car to get to the shops. During lockdown, 77% of these participants used a personal vehicle to access essential goods and services.

There were, however, some important distinctions in suburbia which point to differentiated experiences based on the kinds of space people lived in.

Our diary entries showed that those in suburban houses, in ungated areas and in gated areas, had access to private outdoor green space. This gave some people the freedom to be outdoors for leisure, without contravening lockdown rules or fear of the consequences of doing so. In contrast, it was notable that some diary entries from apartment buildings and townhouses in gated complexes saw participants write about feeling “trapped”, or “stuck”. This heightened sense of confinement was also accompanied by a heightened experience of their neighbours. The sense of proximity to others in the gated complex was intensified for a few participants – not only in terms of sound and shared space, but also in terms of new social 17

- Dr. G (29)

interaction. Finally, diary entries and corresponding surveys of participants from suburban gated communities and ungated suburbs indicate that people rarely saw the police, and never encountered the army, during lockdown.

However in gated communities, there were other forms of surveillance which limited people’s movement. Almost all gated community participants reported seeing private security guards every day. As we note later, this absence of police and army contrasts starkly with the CBD where our smaller group of participants reported a disproportionately larger presence and activity from the police and army.

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2.2.

Lockdown in Townships

Centrality of the street Townships in South Africa refer ordinarily to areas that were formerly designated for black African residents under the Apartheid regime. Historically created to function as segregated residential areas for the marginalized black African population, townships are still broadly considered to be socially, spatially and economically marginalized. Statistically, township areas still feature high rates of multi-dimensional vulnerability, especially when compared to other historically suburban residential areas. The GCRO Quality of Life survey4, which tracks a multidimensional range of indicators relating to quality of life – including social, economic, household, connectivity, access to infrastructure, work, and sociopolitical attitudes – offers a useful representation of the developments in quality of life across various geographic wards in the Province. From these surveys, it is apparent that former township areas still have lower quality of life scores than their suburban counterparts, even though the dynamics within and between township wards also vary (see also (Perbedy et al., 2017).

Over time, however, township areas have also changed and diversified in their social and spatial template, and therefore present markedly different characteristics. This includes stark inequality within townships between middle-class and poorer areas. The diversity within and between townships has been apparent and documented in literature, from the apartheid years into the post-apartheid period (Bonner & Segal, 1998; Harrison & Harrison, 2014).

This diversity was also evident from our diaries, where respondents provided narratives from Soweto and Alexandra in Johannesburg, Kagiso in the West Rand/Krugersdorp area, and Mamelodi West and Mabopane in Tshwane.

One marker of the differences within and between township residents’ diaries and experiences was in the unit size, and living arrangements during the Level-5 lockdown. While all our township participants were locked down in a free-standing house, with access to a yard, the unit size and number of rooms varied. Anonymous (35) from Kagiso, for instance, was locked down in a house that had 7 rooms, and living with one other person during the lockdown, while another Anonymous participant (30) from Moroka in Soweto, reported that she was living in a one-room unit with over 7 family members. All but one township participant had access to water, electricity, and access to a yard or garden.

All participants from townships were locked down in households of more than one person, mainly with family members. Three out of the nine participants in townships were living with more than 7 household members comprising of immediate and extended family. This represented the largest share across all participants.

One of the notable themes from township participant diary entries was the prevalence of street observations as part of daily life. From our surveys, it was apparent that the street and street activity was prevalent even before the lockdown. During the Level-5 lockdown, despite residents being required to remain indoors, street life and activity was still reported. This was reported as an issue of concern by Precious (19) in Mamelodi and Anonymous (35) in Kagiso.

Day 1 27 March 2020 Mamelodi West

“Residents of Mamelodi are carrying out their normal activities as usual. It seems as if people are not willing to comply to any

of the rules enforced by the president. I don’t know if it’s ignorance or is it because no one around them has yet experienced the virus. ” 19

4

Past Quality of Life Data is publicly available on the online portal - http://gcro1.wits.ac.za/qolviewer/

- Precious (19)

Imperial Borders (2020)

20

Day 3 29 March, 2020 Mabopane

“I also went out of the house for the first time since the lockdown/quarantine. Went out to buy some bread and I can confirm that our local spaza shops are open and that the streets are quieter than normal, but I saw a couple of people roaming around and a couple of kids playing in the streets. ”

- Nathi (25)

Day 4 30 March, 2020 Kagiso

“When we finally got to my township. It didn’t feel like a lockdown. People were moving around. I would say older people have adhered to the lockdown; hence the majority of the people are indoors. It was young men who were on the streets. The ‘nyaope’ boys, as we call them, were in their regular corners. Other young men were playing soccer. Others were walking in groups. The visibility of youth unemployment in the country is embodied through young men sitting in street corners of my township or occupying roads as a collective.”

- Anonymous (35) The prevalence of street-life and street activity in townships, however, warranted a more nuanced reading. From our survey, we could establish that prior to the lockdown, a more diverse range of street activities were observed in township areas than in suburban and inner-city neighborhoods. 6 out of 9 township participants shared that before the lockdown, the streets outside their residence were busy during the week and on weekends, with children playing, people socializing, jogging, and selling goods. Survey participants noted similar observations of activity on the street during the lockdown Level-5 (see Annexure 2 for detailed survey findings).

The frequency and rate of observed activity however varied from day to day, and from participant to participant. From Mabopane, Nathi suggested that there was greater movement and activity observed on days when pensioners and old people had to go collect grants at the post office:

Day 5 31 March, 2020 Mabopane

“There was a lot of movement in the streets today as most people got paid and pensioners were going to collect their grant money. People were moving up and down with groceries and this made way for kids to play in the streets as there were a lot of kids moving around and playing all over the streets. ”

- Nathi (24)

21

Safety First (2020)

Day 8 03 April, 2020 Kagiso

Another notable aspect of diary entries from residents in townships were the observations of intermittent police and army activity, although the intensity of activity varied from township to township. In Kagiso, Anonymous (35) reflected on the lack of police or soldiers in the neighborhood while Nan (28), a resident of Diepkloof who worked in Roodepoort reported observing police patrols on a daily basis. In Moroka, the police were observed at least 5 times, and army presence was observed 3-4 times overall. In Alexandra, our participant observed police only once or twice in total, though they saw the army at least once throughout the Level-5 lockdown period. Although intermittent, the pattern of patrols and policing is markedly distinct from the rare police presence in suburban areas, and the heavy-handed policing of inner city participants, discussed in Section 2.4. Diary entries from the townships of Kagiso and Mamelodi also shared how policing included patrols to make public service announcements to urge residents to remain indoors – patrols not made reference to in diaries from other areas.

“One significant activity that occurred in our township was the arrival of the public safety officials. A car from the Mogale

City Public Safety Dept, with two officers inside, with a loudhailer, drove around our areas pleading with people to stay inside their yard. Children who were outside playing we instructed to go inside their house. Throughout its patrol, it was pleading with the community to obey the lockdown rule. Apart from these officials, there are no police nor soldiers on the streets. �

- Anonymous (35) 22

Day 19 14 April, 2020 Mamelodi West

“Today in Mamelodi, police were actually making rounds this whole day warning people to go home or else they’ll be arrested.

I must say I’m glad they’re doing something about all the people roaming in the streets, not knowing where they’re even going to start off with! I’m glad the police are working but I’m also disappointed in society. It didn’t need to escalate to the point where police need to make threats in order for the people to listen to what the president had announced. No!! People should learn to comply on their own without being forced, we need to listen and think about our own health.”

- Precious (19)

Queues, Queues, and more Queues In our analysis of township participant diaries, we also observed the prevalence of queues in township malls and shopping areas, that were intertwined with queues for social grants5. With the COVID-19 lockdown, residents were confined to their immediate residential areas, and modes of transportation were restricted. Three township diary entries illustrated how shopping centres within the proximity of residents’ homes and neighbourhods, which housed big retailers, centralised and concentrated grocery shopping. Two diary entries also made reference to queues outside post offices, which are hubs for the collection of social grants. Arguably, these queues for essential goods and services are not only representative of historically higher population densities in townships than suburbs, but continued socioeconomic disparities.

Participants from townships shared their encounters with queues while trying to access essential amenities, both during and after the 35-day data collection period. One participant related her visit to a local mall at the end of the month within a few days of lockdown, observing long queues for grocery stores and the collection of social grants at the post office. Diary entries about these queues from Soweto, Mamelodi and Kagiso expressed particular concern about the toll these took on elderly people, and the lack of social distancing.

Day 4 30 March, 2020 Soweto

“So, there was a lot of moving today to be honest, of which I didn’t expect. And my mom wanted to buy some few things at

Pick-n-Pay, and we thought ‘let’s go to Maponya Mall.’ When we go there – it was crazy! Uhm, the line was long! Yoh! The queue was very long and the post office as well because the old people and the disabled people were getting aid there, obviously – they were getting their grants there. Oh my gosh; there was no social distancing at all. We went back home. We couldn’t get inside so we thought ‘no, let’s just go back.”

Day 41 06 May, 2020 Diepkloof

- Nomsa (39)

“I’m off today and I had to buy a few toiletries from the shops. I have never seen the mall so full you’d swear we went from level

5 to 1! I felt so sorry for people who can’t stand up too long really it scared me to stay in the queue for so long, so I decided to go back home. I’ll wait until the 10th to get more stuff. Poor elderly people I can’t even begin to imagine what they are going through. This is all too much for them, if only goods could be delivered to their homes.”

- Nan (28) Social grants are provided monthly by the government of South Africa and administered by the South African Social Service Agency to vulnerable individuals based on their income and assets – including the elderly, disabled, and for child-support. From May 2020, these grants were supplemented and a COVID-19 Social Relief of Distress grant was also initiated.

5

23

Day 23 18 April , 2020 Kagiso ...today we are in Kagiso mall. In our small mall in Kagiso. So we are standing in the line. People they want to get inside the mall to buy things. To buy like groceries, but we can’t cause, the people that’s block the gate, they want the bribe so that we can buy food inside. So we having here the pregnant ladies and the old people in the line. Eish it’s not nice. It’s not nice to see somebody who’s pregnant in a line, but they don’t understand.

- Anonymous (32)

Day 4 30 March, 2020 Kagiso

Anonymous (35) in Kagiso, in describing her experience in escorting her mother to collect a pension grant, observed lengthy queues and limited social distancing outside of a local post office.

It was an eventful day. I woke up at 5:00, so I can take my mom to collect her pension grant from the Post Office. Indeed at 5:30, we were on the road to town. When we got there, already about 20 people were queueing. After an hour and a half of waiting, with over 100 people queueing, the post office opened at 7:00. A white woman with a blue mask started to pull chairs from the post office and to line them up 2 meters apart. It was about 30 chairs, she then instructed a mass of old people who were not at all doing social distancing during their wait to start doing by sitting on those chairs. Thirty or so people at the time, sat at the chairs, then 15 at a time were permitted inside the post office to collect their person.

Although they did not practice social distance, most of the pensioners had either gloves or masks on. Most of the conversations were around the virus or the lockdown. As they enter the post office, they would put sanitizers on their hand. The point is hundreds of social grants receiver only started to practice social distance when they were closer to the entry of the post office and inside. The reality is that the queues were too long and people wanted their money. There was no one available beyond the chairs to guard people on how to do the social distance in an extremely long queue.

- Anonymous (35) The theme of waiting thus emerged as a notable theme from many of the township diary entries during the lockdown, whether waiting was observed or directly experienced. This included waiting to enter major retail shops, waiting to access social grants, and, in one diary entry, waiting for urgent medical care.

Anonymous (32) in Kagiso, on Day 9, relayed how a prolonged wait for an ambulance services led to their pregnant neighbor losing their baby:

Day 9 4 April, 2020 Kagiso Oh, in our street yesterday we was having a pregnant lady who struggled to find the… the ambulance. Actually, [s]he got the pains from labor. So his pains started around six or seven, somewhere there. He called – she called the ambulance. When she called the ambulance, the ambulance delay. In that way, ambulance come around twelve o clock. So the lady, she lose the baby because of that, because of the delay. She was alone in the house; nobody to help. But, the only way was for him to call the ambulance but instead the ambulance delay because this – because of this twenty one days.

- Anonymous (32)

24

The Monopoly Home (2020)

Observations of waiting and the centrality of street life marked the experience of lockdown in townships. Even where township participants used private vehicles to get around – the street still featured in their diaries as more than simply a conduit for cars, and as an important place for play. There were signs however, of a differentiated township lockdown experience - not only between townships, but within townships. The diary entries of Anonymous (26) from Alexandra focused on her experience working from home, in a house with 6-rooms and a yard which she shared with three others. Her daily observations during lockdown were not of the army and acts of violence, in spite of these being a feature of the lockdown in parts of Alexandra (Sparks, 2020; Rampedi et al, 2020). Diary entries and surveys pointed to a varying frequency and intensity of patrols in townships by public safety officials, police and the army.

However, patrols were visible - unlike the absence of state surveillance and patrols in suburban areas.

25

2.3 Business as usual Informal settlements across the country are characterised by severe inequalities in access to basic services such as water, sanitation and electricity (Socio-Economic Rights Institute, 2018). Close to 25% of people living in informal settlements in Gauteng rely on chemical toilets as their main form of sanitation (Housing Development Agency, 2013 in Socio-Economic Rights Institute, 2018). It is estimated that 19% of Gauteng’s households live in informal settlements (StatsSA, 2016 in Socio-Economic Rights Institute, 2018). Informal settlement areas also feature high rates of poverty, with residents employed in the informal and low-wage economy. Many residents were vulnerable to job losses, lack of income, and ultimately, shortages of food during the lockdown (Nyashanu, Simbanegavi, & Gibson, 2020).

These longstanding constraints in housing and basic service provision in informal settlements and some townships were raised to the fore by the pandemic, prompting an emergency response by the South African government (Republic of South Africa, 2020). Interventions included the provision of communal water storage and collection points, hand washing facilities, interim sanitation systems, the distribution of food parcels, as well as controversial proposals for “de-densification” and “decanting” (Poplak, 2020; Republic of South Africa, 2020).

Lockdown in an informal settlement:

As part of its “de-densification”, the Department of Human Settlements, Water and Sanitation set in motion plans to move residents from some informal settlements, including in Gauteng (Republic of South Africa, 2020; Culwick Fatti et al., 2020). Though these suggestions were proposed as efforts at enhancing social distancing, they were met with criticism from academia and civil society, raising critical debates about urban density, and the long and short-term impacts of resettlement (Afesis-corplan et al., 2020; Culwick Fatti et al., 2020). Informal settlements in urban areas thus became a focal point during the lockdown.

Only one of our Lockdown Diary participants, Anonymous (41) resides in an informal settlement in the South of Johannesburg. His diaries provided some important observations that are of relevance to reflections on space and place, particularly in relation to the other typologies discussed in earlier sections. As with the rest of the participants, Anonymous (41) shared reports of his daily life and routine, often reflecting on the increased time he was spending with his family. As someone actively engaged in his community, he was also able to report on the progress of lockdown in the settlement, and on observations of the street and community life. These reports pointed to a prevailing normality, where residents continued to move and engage as they did before the lockdown.

Day 1 27 March, 2020 Nancefield

“Today 27/03/20, first day of the lockdown in South Africa Johannesburg South informal settlement. My day was not a usual day as I woke up relaxed hoping to see people responding to the call of staying home [and] not roaming around the street unnecessarily.

Old, young and small children were working down the street as always spaza shops opened as usual others selling chips as always and people queuing for their orders. Some people were working in groups some driving around with passengers fully packed in cars others walk drinking alcohol.

As was sitting in the yard some people came to report their electricity problem, asking my help to call city power to come and fix the problem. ”

- Anonymous (41) 26

Two-room (2020)

This trend of “business as usual” would continue through his diaries. As the Level-5 lockdown neared an end, he observed that local health workers were operating without gloves and masks

Day 34 29 April, 2020 Nancefield

“As I have started my day with the usual routine and observing the lockdown daily life.

The people of my settlement continue to leave their lives as usual now days it’s getting worse in such a way that no precautions are taken by young people and old people. People still walk around in pairs and groups visiting each other, NGO health workers continue to do their daily visit to different houses in the settlement without gloves and mask, [and] the Good Samaritan proceeds with his daily routine to give people in the settlement a loaf of bread everyday with the help of the block committee members Kids playing on the street as always. ”

- Anonymous (41) The presence of movement and people echoed diaries from participants in townships. The sight of children playing soccer was a familiar day-today presence on the streets in the informal settlement where he stayed. In comparison to township residents living in serviced and cemented homes, however, Anonymous’s diary entries presented the vulnerabilities apparent from living in a shack, and the socioeconomic circumstances in informal settlements.

27

Day 4 30 March, 2020 Nancefield

“Me personally I thought of staying in a shack at this lockdown, is it not like waiting for this corona to come through a hole maybe people think alike and just carry on to live life like nothing is different. People continued to walk around the Slovo Street just like nothing is here. It’s a challenging situation.”

- Anonymous (41) Day 17 12 April, 2020 Nancefield

“Young people can’t wait to be on the street, some people don’t have enough space in the yard due to the fact that they have done shack farming 6.”

- Anonymous (41) Food Parcels, hunger, looting Anonymous’ diaries progressively showed the exacerbation of economic challenges as the lockdown continued, particularly among young people.

Only a few days into the lockdown, he shared that people were “being chased out by landlords ‘cause they haven’t paid yet”. On Day 17, he reported that residents had erroneously assumed that he was making a list of residents to receive food parcels. Less than two weeks later, this confusion regarding food parcels resurfaced, attributed to an outdated list of needy residents, and lack of information.

Day 30 25 April, 2020 Nancefield

“As of yesterday, young people were much concern on the way SASSA distribute food parcels. Apparently they were using

their data base list that was compiled last year June which is not covering everyone in the state of lockdown. Then they take it to the street to show their frustration. Their demonstration was not for long, and [they] leave it all by themselves.

People that are in need were really confused not knowing what they must do to get those parcels as well. Those who got a relief from the individual and some political organization last week got for the second time through the list of SASSA. People still carry on with their daily life routine. ”

- Anonymous (41) This sense of restlessness and agitation was an emerging theme across the country as concerns of hunger, food security and poverty worsened by the ongoing lockdown began to override efforts to contain the virus. On Day 19, he shared how a thwarted strike by young people led to a clash between youths, with some people injured and others arrested.

“shack farming” here is used to refer to the practice of people with yards leasing out parts of their property to “backyarders” living in shacks.

6

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Day 19 14 April 2020 Nancefield

“Life continues as usual. Later on the day, young people from the settlement tried a small strike whereby they closed some of

the street claiming that one of the factory baking cakes here at the industrial site is not willing to pay them. Only to find that plan was to escalate to looting of shops, but police and soldiers responded quickly to close the intention down.

This Young people then influenced boys to go close down Freeway but before they could get to freeway, they clashed with other young boys that tried to stop them. Suddenly the were exchange of stone throwing and one of the other boys got hurt and is now at ICU while others got arrested. ”

Intermittent police & everyday mundaneness

- Anonymous (41)

As with diary submissions from townships, Anonymous sent reports of occasional police and army presence and patrols. These would be brief, but while police presence lingered, residents would return to their homes and remain there. However, once the police left the settlement, things would return to “business as usual”.

Day 5 31 March, 2020 Nancefield

“Later on the day, for the first time people were running to clear themselves from the street and spaza shop owners rushed to

close, only to find that we have soldiers and police patrolling for the first time in our settlement. Not for long, they left the area [and] people started to go back to the street. And this time it was like everyone was on the street hoping to see where they went to. ”

Day 5 31 March, 2020 Nancefield

- Anonymous (41)

“As we come back to the informal settlement we meet a convoy of police and soldiers driving around Eldorado Park only to find that they were coming from our settlement. Later on the day people continue to do business as usual. ”

- Anonymous (41) Like residents in all other areas, however, the bulk of diaries from Anonymous spoke to the familiar, day-to-day routine. Most of the time was spent with his family, playing with his son, watching TV, reading, or engaging as a local community leader.

Day 21 16 April, 2020 Nancefield

“I spent lots of my time in the yard and in my shack with my family. Eating has become a bad habit as we normally watch

TV until we get tired of watch TV and play outside the (House)with my son sometimes we ride bicycle in the yard around the shack, then other days we play golf in the yard the two of us. There are times when I spend time on the phone chatting or on a conference call meeting which happen mostly on Tuesdays. When my data is finished, I sometimes sleep especially when it is raining or a bit chilly outside. Some other days I will be called outside by my community members that need our services during this time of the lockdown which it become a bit difficult. ”

- Anonymous (41) 29

Anonymous (41) often spent time in his yard, sometimes setting up a makeshift mini-golf challenge with his son. He notes that the liberty of a yard was not shared across the settlement, with some yards being rented out to sub-tenants. As a result, the street was where most children and youth spent time during lockdown. His experience in south Johannesburg offered a small window into life in an informal settlement during lockdown. His observations of the street as a site and conduit of play, social interaction, and business echoed townships, and again brought to the fore the practical constraints of lockdown requirements for social distancing in some areas.

Most notable, however, were his observations of increased tensions as the lockdown progressed and people contended with the impact it was having on their pockets, and their ability to put food on the table.

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2.4.

Lockdown in the CBD and the Inner-City

The presence of police and homelessness In the transition to a post-apartheid urbanity, central business districts (CBDs) and inner-cities underwent a period of urban decline and reinvention - where businesses and white residents moved out, and some landlords, particularly in Johannesburg, abandoned their properties (Mosselson, 2019). In both of Gauteng’s largest cities, Johannesburg and Pretoria, the inner-cities underwent a dramatic shift in the racial demographic of residents after 1994. The CBD was decentred from its apartheid role and many white residents moved out to suburban areas (Czegledy, 2003; Donaldson et al., 2003). While black residents had been renting (and sub-letting) in areas reserved for white residents in the inner-city of Johannesburg since the 1980s, significant increases in the number of black residents in the Pretoria CBD were only seen after 1994 (Mosselson, 2019; Donaldson et al., 2003).

Although Pretoria’s inner-city has retained its function as a hub of national government headquarters, Johannesburg’s inner-city changed from being the centre of the financial sector and corporate headquarters to a new node of trade and smallscale business (Donaldson et al., 2003; Mosselson, 2019; Zach, 2016; Goga, 2003).

Five participants regularly sent through diary entries from neighbourhoods that were located in central business districts (CBDs) or inner-city neighbourhoods in Johannesburg, Pretoria, and Kempton Park in Gauteng.

The neighbourhoods of Berea and Arcadia, in close proximity to the CBDs, were also included in this cluster. Historically, both were considered suburban neighbourhoods – however, as Czegledy (2003) discusses with reference to Braamfontein and Hillbrow in Johannesburg, they are today “understood to be economically depressed appendages to the inner city rather than the southern boundaries of the northern suburbs’’.

Most of the inner-city participants lived in multi-storey apartment buildings, albeit in varied arrangements. Mpilo* (26) rented in a managed apartment building where she didn’t know her neighbours. One participant lived in a fenced social housing development with a shared outdoor area, while another participant lived in a building that he described as an “occupied building or a homeless shelter”. Mokoena, lived in a house in a gated complex close to the Kempton Park CBD. As such, her diary entries, although coming from a “gated community”, were markedly different from the participants living in suburban gated complexes. Like in other areas, living arrangements varied in the inner-city – some people lived alone or with one other person, while one person lived with more than seven people.

Although all inner-city participants had access to a balcony or rooftop, not everyone had access to a yard or garden.

The most distinct observation from all participants’ diary entries in the CBD and inner-city neighbourhoods was the regular reference to police presence from the first day of lockdown. Significantly, unlike in other areas, participants made more than one reference to seeing the army.

31

Day 17 12 April, 2020 Kempton Park

Still Here (2020)

“Woke up yet again to the noise of police sirens. The SAPS and EMPD are making quite a few rounds in our area.

If only they can continue working this hard even after lockdown under normal circumstances would be nice.”

- Mokoena (23) Day 2 28 March, 2020 Arcadia

“While looking over the window I realised that the number of police and military personnel patrolling the street have increased.”

- Philimon (30) 32

This police presence extended to instances of violence and arrests. From the first day of the lockdown, Sifiso, from Berea, reported numerous instances of private security and police chasing people and police shooting rubber bullets.

Day 2 28 March, 2020 Berea

“I woke up around 0930 today I brush my teeth and drink my coffee then I went outside at around 12h15. Police came with 3 cars, chasing people with knobkieries [and] with guns. People were running inside some of them they come from the shop with groceries. One guy said they fire rubber bullets”

- Sfiso (34) Mpilo* relayed an experience one evening where police and the army were present on the streets – and shining their torches invasively into people’s apartments:

Day 24 19 April, 2020 Johannesburg CBD

“Just saw this, 15 to 20 soldiers, about 8 metro cops and SAPS [South African Police Service] were parked outside

for about 10 minutes. When I tried to look out the window a metro cop shined a torch into my window. I shut my curtain but looked through the blinds in the kitchen. She kept doing this in several windows from my building and the one opposite us. I don’t understand why they would do that, there is no “don’t look out your window” lockdown rule and the fight is against a virus, it’s not a war so the guns were also overkill.”

- Mpilo (26) In the Pretoria CBD, one participant reported that one of his friends had been arrested on the way to the shops and spent the night in jail. The presence of police and army on the streets directly impacted at least two participants’ decisions about whether to go to the shops or get some fresh air. In the beginning of the lockdown, Sifiso (43) reported being reluctant to leave the gate of the premises of his building because of the heavyhandedness of police and presence of the military.

Day 3 29 March, 2020 Berea

“I woke around 8:30 brush teeth, wash my face, made my bed, then coffee. After that I went outside to check that situation it was quiet, I only saw 2 Police cars patrolling the street was not busy as day 2 of lock down.

I cooked food for myself because I am alone. Then I watch tv because I couldn’t go outside the gate.

I couldn’t because when the police patrol they will chase you that’s why I decided to lock myself inside the yard.

Yes you can go in the morning but you are not free cause you don’t know what gonna happen if they find you its better to be safe than to be sorry.”

- Sifiso (43) Like Sifiso, Lindy (38) was afraid of encountering the police and the army. On Day 11 of the lockdown, she described running out of food, but being “filled with fear” and not going to the shops:

33

Day 11 6 April, 2020 Pretoria Central

“…I was just planning to go out, to go and buy myself food since I ran out of food. But I was filled with fear…a great fear to say like why if this happen? What if now I have to meet this po – police or soldiers and explain myself. Am I gonna be able to, to, to have that part of brain to respond? I really don’t know. If they are too harsh, I won’t be able to respond and it will be difficult for me, you know. And I, I was like, I was just oppressed by mind. But anyway, I end up not going. So my day it was just a quiet day whereby I, I just seated, not feeling to say anything to anyone…. The feeling it was unusual…it was rough”

- Lindy (38)

Above & Below (2020)

When inner-city respondents did leave the spaces where they lived to walk to the shops, the experiences of what they observed and who they encountered were shared in detail. When Lindy plucked up the courage to go to the shops, she described seeing police and the army chasing homeless people away from public areas:

Day 12 07 April, 2020 Pretoria Central

“ When I finished shopping then I walk back to my place. When I pass Church Square, there was two cars of traffics [police], they were chasing people out of the park. People were – homeless guys were just sitting there. They were trying to sleep just to get some rest there. Um, then they came and chased them. They told them to move with a speaker: ‘move! Move! Leave the park!’, you know, and I saw them leaving the park. Then suddenly I saw the soldiers coming. One car of the soldiers coming – it was just driving around and people they stared to move away because it wasn’t good at all for them to sit there and chill there.”

- Lindy (38) 34

After two weeks of the lockdown, Lindy reported seeing many more people outside, spending time seated in the parks. In reflection, she did not blame them for this, explaining how in the inner-city, many people were sharing rooms, and it was not uncommon for up to ten people to share a one or two bedroom flat. Most of our inner-city participants lived in apartment buildings.

One participant lived with 7 other roommates/housemates.

Day 14 09 April, 2020 Pretoria Central

“You can see like, people, there are people going up and down buying now. People are tired… I just understand that now people

they are tired of being in the houses. So you’ll find them just walking, walking. Some they just seated at at the park and I know that it’s really risky for them to be there. The reason being, people are sharing in the flats. They are sharing, and you’ll find ten people in one, one, one, one bedroom, or two bedrooms. You’ll find ten people living there. So it’s been a, a hard time for, for such people. Those guys, there. ”

- Lindy (38) Homelessness was a recurring theme from participants in the inner-city.

Reflections and observations on homelessness during lockdown were often made by participants as they went outside. One participant described himself as living in an “occupied building or homeless shelter” and often related his engagements with homeless men on the streets. Most participants made regular reference to seeing homeless people on the street, with many concerned about the options homeless people had for shelter in their area.

Day 2 28 March, 2020 Kempton Park

“To my surprise, on my way back home there were fewer beggars on the street in town than the usual. However I still felt that government or the city councils had not made enough provision for the homeless. Also, one thing that did cross my mind was how is it possible for the government or rather city council to provide shelter for the homeless in the area but can not do so under normal circumstance, which is a conversation I think we need to start having. ”

- Mokoena (23) Day 3 29 March, 2020 Johannesburg CBD

“The only people on the streets are homeless people, at around 1pm I see a group of homeless men walking up with groceries,

including mealie meal, canned goods, sunflower oil and milk. I’m triggered, temporary shelters were said to be identified for homeless people before this lockdown began, but I do not see any option for the people in my area. I don’t think anyone should be forced to go anywhere, but they should at least have the option. ”

- Mpilo (26)

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In Tshwane, news reports covered how the City’s early attempts to house its street homeless were inadequate and led to homeless people attempting to escape (Mitchley, 2020). One participant shared his concerns about overcrowding and a lack of personal protective gear, after visiting the main site in Tshwane which was initially used to house people who were living on the street:

Day 1 27 March, 2020 Arcadia

“When I got there...the manner in which people were put and place, it was not in a safe manner.

About +-1000 people were put in one place without any face masks, any gloves and stuff.

Anyway, the day was just hectic. Where we were in Caledonia, things took a drastic turn, the homeless community was frustrated because of hunger. Most of them were taken from the street at around midnight by the metro police.

But by 5 o’clock (PM) today they didn’t get any food to eat so they were hungry and they started a riot. So after they started a riot it got out of hand and the military was called. They didn’t ask any questions. Some of the people who were not even part of the riot they were beaten up and kicked while they were sleeping. So things were difficult.”

- Philimon (30) As the lockdown progressed, the same participant explained how he was struggling to make a living. Like many others in the inner-city who made their living “hustling” off the streets, he lived in precarious circumstances in the city.

Day 23 18 April, 2020 Arcadia

“My observation all in all is that now a lot of people especially those in shelters, streets and squatter camps are really struggling financially because most are informal traders and informal recyclers and with this lockdown without income they struggle.

Me personally i survive guarding cars and some odd jobs with some of the guys. While others are informal recyclers and informal vendors some selling fatcakes for e.g A lot has changed because most of us, we take everyday as it comes. I may say we are on a hand to mouth basis, meaning if you don’t hustle you won’t have money for necessities.”

- Philimon (30) The diary entries from CBD and inner-city participants illustrated a lockdown experience characterised by heightened policing and surveillance. This level of surveillance, patrols and even violence, was distinct from other diary entries , and even contrasted sharply with many of the township observations of nonconfrontational surveillance and patrol. Since the first day of lockdown, CBD and inner-city participants regularly witnessed police, and occasionally even the army. In Berea, a neighbourhood in the inner-city of Johannesburg, Sifiso (43) recounted at least three instances of police chasing people and firing rubber bullets.

The presence of the police and army had impacts on two people’s sense of freedom, and one’s sense of privacy. Without personal gardens or balconies, with policed streets, and with their feet rather than cars being the main mode of transport – these inner-city residents were left with few options for reprieve from the indoors, unlike suburban and township participants. This is also significant considering the spatial arrangements that many people find themselves in the Province’s inner cities: in apartments, often with many people sharing.

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Finally, the thread of homelessness wove itself through diary entries from the inner-city. Again, this was unique to this urban environment. Those who had a place to call home in the inner-city displayed empathy with those who didn’t.

For others, homelessness was closer to home. One participant’s diary entries show how he, and those he knew, found their hustle clamped and their precarity exacerbated by the lockdown – this provided a small window into the impact of the lockdown and COVID-19 on informal traders and workers.

The above sections have presented the relatively unique themes that were observed from diaries based on area typology. This perspective allowed us to highlight the cross-cutting observations and experiences that were apparent from the spatial characteristics of the areas. In the following section, we present the main cross-cutting theme that emerged from our analysis, the compression of time and space through technology.

Urban Living (2020)

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03.

With countries all over the world implementing different forms of lockdown or movement control, the role of technology became essential for communication and interaction, work and family events, for trading and shopping, and for observing social and religious activities.

Celebrating & Mourning Many diary entries related how social and important events which would ordinarily take place in person, were moved online. Birthdays, church services, meditation sessions, and memorial services were conducted via various social networking platforms, including Facebook, Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, or Microsoft Teams. As Anonymous (31) from Randburg shared on Day 10, digital networking platforms became increasingly indispensable, not just for connection with family and friends located across the world, but also for observing memorials:

Day 10 05 April, 2020 Randburg

“Um, had two interesting events that happened today, all dealing with technology even though I’m in the isolation

of a home. I have a cousin of mine who unfortunately passed away this week. Um, he was attacked like in 2017 and he was in a coma and then he woke up but like he never fully got um, was in a fully functional...Um, but um, unfortunately he succumbed to his injuries and he passed away and we had a memorial via Zoom.

It’s you know, quite grateful that event despite the current situation that you know, we going through this lockdown which is affecting not only myself here, but everyone else around the world that you know, we could all dial into this you know, platform and be able to pay our last respects to him. ...So ya, it was just quite interesting cause my family is like all over the place so he was in London um, and he had cousins call – who were organizing the call, calling in from Ottawa and uh, Addis Ababa [giggles] and then you had myself from South Africa. You had my mom, who was also on the call, dialing in from Bujumbura and then you had people from Belgium, France, Norway, Sweden, Kenya, the DRC, um, Rwanda, where else? Man like, we were calling from like all different corners of the world and the priest was conducting the prayers via France so um, very grateful of the use of technology... ...and then later on I got on to a four-way um, WhatsApp call with my cousins from uh, Canada, and another one in uh, Belgium and yoh, I’ve never laughed so hard, and quite grateful that you know, I got to speak to them and it’s just quite interesting that you know, despite the whole distance thing and you know, just being locked up in your own house, you can still reach out to people via technology so very grateful for the use of technology in this current situation. So that definitely put a smile on my face and made me have a good end to my weekend...”

- Anonymous (31) Online work, studying, & shopping For many participants, their work, studies, and daily routines had to be moved online in order to continue. One participant in particular, Anonymous (26) from Alexandra regularly spoke about the time she spent online daily: communicating with colleagues, attending “virtual mass”, Whatsapp calls with friends, online workshops and even online life-coaching. For those who saw their work moved online, many entries made references to their online meetings and work. Online work was new for many and an adjustment for everyone. Throughout the lockdown, participants expressed concerns, challenges, and issues that they faced while they made the transition to working or studying online.

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Day 1 27 March, 2020 Centurion

“Had my first board meeting via Zoom with 12 people. Not the same as face to face. Prefer to eyeball people when dealing with critical matters, to ensure authenticity, & read the body language.”

- Anonymous (59) Day 21 16 April, 2020 Soweto

“I had reports that I had to submit, we finished yesterday with my team, it’s so difficult to work remotely, people take long to respond

, and otherwise all is well.”

- Nomsa (39) Day 23 18 April, 2020 Mamelodi

“Corona has really affected my life in a negative way. During the week, I’d usually leave for school around 11

and be back around 18:00 but now things have changed. We have to do everything online. And to be honest that’s frustrating and kind of boring, because at school we can interact with people, you know

I miss that interaction.”

- Precious (19)

For one respondent, however, the shift to remote working and online shopping presented an opportunity for trade, exchange, and commerce.

Jerry, a participant from Benoni progressively developed, opened, and began running an online retail store during the COVID window, and shared the experiences of this effort:

Day 10 05 April, 2020 Boksburg

“My online store is finally live. I got three retailers… small shops, small shops, really small shops, but it really is

taking off quite nicely. Um, by the end of the year I’d like to have a thousand products. I have about 200 products on the store so if I can get 1000 by the end of the year, then you know I can have, um, a wider product offering...

Post Covid nineteen, I think it won’t be business as usual for a lot of businesses. So, really exciting ideas about the online store. So it really has no cash investment, well, there is a cash investment; just buying a domain, um, opening an account, keeping the account fees up to date.... Um, but what’s really uh, the cherry on top about it is the opportunities for people to get employment, you know, um, do deliveries, keep the change, but obviously just give me a percentage of whatever you keep...”

- Jerry (40) Anonymous from Centurion also noted that one of the shifts he had implemented was adopting online shopping:

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Day 12 07 April, 2020 Centurian

“ Personally, I’m almost back to my work routine pre lockdown, except that all my meetings are now online. Nothing that I was doing before, is being significantly altered as I have been WFH for 5 years already. Online home purchasing is the major shift, and [I am] very impressed with service & ease of use. ”

- Anonymous (59) Differentiated online access There was, however, a differentiated experience of technology based on the availability of data, access to smartphones, and reliable electricity. This varied access to technology was experienced directly in our study. All participants communicated their diaries via Whatsapp, but one participant struggled to communicate regularly because he was not always able to charge his phone. An option was also provided to participants to request data in order to enable them to send regular diary entries – and at least seven participants made requests for data assistance.Although Gauteng province has one of the highest rates of telecommunications coverage (100%) and over 9 million smartphone users (ICASA, 2020), this access is still constrained by socio-economic factors. This means that access to work, education spaces, online work and economic spaces was still structured by access to internet.

Additionally, in cases where the pre-requisite for accessing business and government services under Level-5 lockdown was access to a smartphone or internet, some marginalized groups were prevented from accessing these services.

This challenge was observed by Buhle (33), a participant from Pretoria, who was working to help homeless men register for and access unemployment grants:

Day 36 01 May, 2020 Akasia

“ I do work from home, working more from home especially with the homeless guys that are placed in the different temporary

shelters. [I’ve been] helping a lot with the administration for those shelters and now I am going to be helping them from today register for the unemployment grants.

But I am really angry that one of the prerequisites for this grant is that a person must have a smart phone to use the WhatsApp, although I’m going to be using my WhatsApp so they don’t need that, but the other thing that I feel like has been exclusionary is the idea of them having to have a bank card and an ID. The idea – I understand, at the end of the day, this is a SASSA7 grant and one must have an ID for it but the bank card part, I don’t understand because not all these homeless guys have bank cards. These bank cards need to be maintained; there’s monthly fees for this thing and not all these guys have the luxury of owning a bank card and maintaining it, um, which make the whole process quite difficult, unnecessarily so if you ask me. ...Um, it just means that not all the homeless guys will have access to this money even though they all need it. It will only be those ones with a bank card. ”

- Buhle (33)

South African Social Security Agency

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Although all our participants made reference to transcending their spaces of lockdown through technology: communicating with loved ones, attending church services, keeping busy on social media, or streaming movies and TV shows, there was also a clear difference in access to data and the kind of use of online platforms and tools. Participants who worked in the service industry - a waiter, a car guard, or a chef – as well as others who relied on piecemeal work, were unable to work from home. The waiter and the car guard, in particular, struggled to support themselves and their households.

The struggles that became apparent from residents being confined in space and place included those of mental health, anxiety, and fear – both of the Coronavirus, and of the environment of uncertainty created by the pandemic. This included a lack of social and community interaction; finding work, losing work, looking for work; as well as aspects of Gender Based Violence. The challenges generated by COVID-19 lockdown were intricately interconnected and heightened by the element of having to be locked in or confined to a specific unit, house, or area (these will be discussed further in Issue 3).

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04.

In comparing the diary entries and experiences of lockdown across Township, Suburban, and CBD & Inner-City participants – it became clear that there was a spatial differentiation of the lockdown in Gauteng that centered on three main themes: policing, street life, and people’s experiences of leaving their spaces to access essential goods. Diary entries from the CBDs and inner-city showed the most regular policing and surveillance, including instances of violence. Township diary entries also made reference to policing and surveillance, while media reports shared numerous instances of extreme violence perpetrated in some of the province’s townships. In contrast, suburban diary entries reported negligible policing and surveillance, though these areas had a greater presence of private security. Importantly, the army was never seen by all suburban participants. These patterns of policing cannot be separated from historical patterns of policing and surveillance in South Africa’s urban areas during apartheid states of emergency.

The presence and nature of patrols and policing impacted on people’s ability, and associated fears, of leaving the spaces where they were locked down.

This exacerbated spatial inequalities in the freedoms that people had during the lockdown. Everyone wanted to go outside – yet whether or not they were able or willing to appears to have been influenced by the nature of surveillance in the area, combined with their usual access and use of private or public outdoor space.

It was telling that the street was not a central focus for diary entries from the suburbs, but was ubiquitous in diary entries from townships and the one informal settlement participant, and a feature of entries from inner cities. The level of activity on the streets during lockdown could not be separated from how it is the street was used before lockdown – whether children normally played on the street, and whether people regularly walked and socialised on the street.

A one-size-fits-all lockdown that banned people from going outdoors, except for the purpose of acquiring an essential good or service, thus appeared out of step with housing arrangements, neighbourhood mobility, access to essential goods and services, and the function of the street in many South African neighbourhoods. In fact, the requirements of the hard lockdown were arguably most practical for those with private vehicles and living in free-standing houses in suburbs - where people had their own private yard or garden, and the street did not normally function as a primary way to get around by foot to access goods, socialise or play. Combined with the spatial contrasts in the nature and extent of policing and patrols, this meant some areas and spaces were more “locked-down” than others. In diary entries from suburban apartments and complexes, with limited outdoor space and which were car-oriented, participants experienced heightened feelings of being “trapped” and driving their cars became a reprieve. Meanwhile, the constant and confrontational presence of police severely restricted the movements and raised the fears of participants in inner-cities and CBDs in Gauteng. In contrast, participants from townships and the informal settlement, where the centrality of streets to neighbourhood life was combined with intermittent policing, regularly related how children continued to play on the streets. Finally, long queues and waits for groceries and grants were a distinguishing feature of diary entries from townships. This discounted lockdown requirements for social distancing when accessing essential goods and services, and reflected continued socioeconomic inequalities. Following on these findings, we will analyse the themes of surveillance, the street and the shops in more detail in Issue 2.

Although contemporary spatial demographics are not as clear cut today as they were during apartheid, the socio-economic and racial differentiation of lockdown that is created by these spatial differences cannot be ignored. As one participant reflected: 41

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Day 6 01 April, 2020 Florida Park

“It was just quite surprising because the images that you see on TV, with the roadblocks, uhm police presence, it’s not really a reality this side, you know? Yeah, that was quite interesting. And it was just so interesting that the place where [there are] predominantly white people wasn’t packed, where in the coloured area it was too packed…”

- Zion (27) There was, however, also evidence of differentiation within areas. Suburban experiences of lockdown varied based on people’s living arrangements and access to outdoor space. Similarly, there was evidence of differentiation in townships. Participants from townships shared diaries that had some similarities, the presence of children playing in the streets, queues in shopping areas, and relatively high observations of police patrols in a week. However, there were also notable differences in household size, as well as social and economic dynamics that impacted how people experienced the lockdown.

As much as the diary entries began to show us that the lockdown in South Africa was spatially differentiated – there were themes that transcended space and place. In particular, it was striking how space was collapsed through technology – primarily through smartphones and access to the internet. Across areas and spaces in Gauteng, people used WhatsApp to communicate with loved ones, Facebook to be present at church services, and videoconferencing programmes like Zoom to attend memorials, meetings and birthdays. Technology served as a way for people to overcome struggles and separation, but sometimes also exacerbated feelings of anxiety, fear, and stress. The difficulties and struggles of lockdown that emerged in the diary entries, as well as the ways through which households navigated and coped will be discussed in Issue 3.

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Emerging Johannesburg. New York, London: Routledge Davidson, H. (2020, March 24). Around 20% of global population under coronavirus lockdown. Retrieved from The Guardian: https:// www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/24/nearly-20-of-globalpopulation-under-coronavirus-lockdownde Kadt, J., Gotz, G., Culwick, C., Parker, A., Hamann, C., & Mkhize, S. P. (2018, November 13). Quality of Life survey V (2017/18). Retrieved from Gauteng City Region Observatory: https://gcro.ac.za/research/ project/detail/quality-of-life-survey-v-201718/ Donaldson, R., Jurgens, U., & Bahr, J. (2003). Inner-city change in Pretoria: social and spatial trends. Acta Academica, 2003(3), 1-33 Dunford, D., Dale, B., Stylianou, N., Lowther, E., Ahmed, M., & Arenas, I. d. (2020, April 6). Coronavirus: The world in lockdown in maps and charts. Retrieved from BBC News: https://www.bbc.com/ news/world-52103747 Goga, S. (2003). Property investors and decentralization: a case of false competition? In Tomlinson, Richard, Robert Beauregard, Lindsay Bremmer, and Xolela Mangcu (Eds.). Emerging Johannesburg. New York, London: Routledge Graham-Harrison, E. (2020, March 18). What coronavirus lockdowns have meant around the world. Retrieved from The Guardian: https:// www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/18/what-a-coronaviruslockdown-might-mean-for-london Harrison, P. & Dinath, Y. (2017). Gauteng – On the Edge. In Peberdy S.; Harrison P., & Dinath, Y. Uneven Spaces: Core and Periphery in the Gauteng City-Region. Retrieved from South African Research Chair in Spatial Analysis and City Planning: https://issuu.com/ sacpwits/docs/uneven_spaces_research_report_2017 Harrison, P., & Harrison, K. (2014). Soweto: A Study In Socio-spatial Differentiation. In Harrison P., Gotz G., Todes A., & Wray C. (Eds.), Changing Space, Changing City: Johannesburg After Apartheid Open Access Selection (Pp. 293-318). Johannesburg: Wits University Press. Doi:10.18772/22014107656.19

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Horn, A. and Ngcobo, J.R.B., 2003, October. The suburban challenge:(De) segregation, opportunity, and community in Akasia, city of Tshwane. In Urban Forum (Vol. 14, No. 4, pp. 320-346).

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Landman, K., & Badenhorst, W. (2014). Gated communities and spatial transformation in Greater Johannesburg. In Harrison P., Gotz G., Todes A., & Wray C. (Eds.), Changing Space, Changing City: Johannesburg After Apartheid - Open Access Selection (Pp. 293-318).

Johannesburg: Wits University Press. Doi:10.18772/22014107656.19 Mosselson, A. (2018). Vernacular Regeneration: low-income housing, private policing and urban transformation in inner-city Johannesburg.

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Sparks, J. (2020, April 11). Coronavirus: Beaten man ‘living in fear’ after South African police enforce lockdown with attack. Retrieved from Sky News: https://news.sky.com/story/coronavirus-beaten-manliving-in-fear-after-police-enforce-lockdown-with-attack-1197194 Statistics South Africa (StatsSA), General Household Survey (GHS) Series Volume VIII: Water and Sanitation In-Depth Analysis of the General Household Survey 2002–2015 and Community Survey 2016 data (2016). https://www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/Housing/ InformalSettlements/SERI.pdf Statistics South Africa. (2016). Community Survey 2016. Pretoria: Statistics South Africa. Retrieved from http://cs2016.statssa.gov. za/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/NT-30-06-2016-RELEASE-forCS-2016-_Statistical-releas_1-July-2016.pdf.

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06.

Annex 1: Selected Alert Level 5 Restrictions Restrictions of movement of persons (and goods) except for performing an essential service, obtaining an essential good or service, collecting a social grant, pension, or seeking emergency, life-saving, or chronic medical attention.

Every gathering is prohibited, except for a funeral as provided for in sub regulations, and movement between provinces and between metropolitan and district areas is prohibited except for essential workers; for transportation of essential goods, cargo, mortal remains, and funeral attendance.

All businesses and entities shall cease operations, except those involved in the manufacturing, supply, or provision of an essential good or service, except where operations are provided from outside of the Republic or can be provided remotely by a person from their normal place of residence.

Retail shops and shopping malls are closed, except where essential goods are sold and on condition that the store puts social distancing measures in place, retail stores selling essential goods are prohibited from selling any other goods.

Any place not involved in the provision of an essential good or service must remain closed to all persons for the duration of the lockdown, except to those persons rendering security and maintenance services at those places or premises.

This list of areas included: religious, cultural, sporting, entertainment, recreational, exhibitional, organisational amenities, public parks, beaches, swimming pools, markets, restaurants, taverns, night clubs, casinos, hotels, lodges and guest houses, game reserves, holiday resorts, off-consumption premises, including liquor sale areas, theatres, cinemas, shopping malls (excluding grocery stores and pharmacies); and taxi ranks, bus depots, train stations and airports.

All essential services providers may be subjected to screening for COVID-19 by an enforcement officer.

All borders of the Republic are closed during the period of lockdown.

Movement of children between co-holders of parental responsibilities and rights or a caregiver, is prohibited during the lockdown period, except in cases of a court order; where parental responsibilities and rights agreement or parenting plan, registered with the family advocate, is in existence, or Prohibition of public transport: All commuter transport services including passenger rail services, bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services, maritime and air passenger transport are prohibited, except bus services, taxi services, e-hailing services and private motor vehicles necessary for rendering essential services, obtaining essential goods or services, seeking medical attention, funeral services and for collecting payment of grants and pensions – with bus services limited to carrying 50% of the licensed capacity; taxi services limited to 70% of the licensed capacity; and private vehicles limited to 60% of the licensed capacity, and that hygiene and protections measures are adhered to.

Prohibition on evictions from one’s place of residence for the duration of the lockdown.

Resources by the State during lockdown, providing temporary shelter for evicted persons; for homeless people; and temporary sites for quarantine and self-isolation for people who cannot isolate or quarantine at home.

For a full list of the Regulations, please refer to the Disaster Management Act (2002). LINK

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Annex 2: Survey reports and key findings As part of the data collection process, we sent out three surveys via Google Forms. The first two were sent out to the main cluster of respondents, and the third was publicly available to all residents of Gauteng, and was distributed through our networks and social media platforms.

Survey I: City Lockdown Diaries Survey 1 – 22 responses This survey gathered information on respondents, areas that they were living in under lockdown, a general picture of their living spaces, and early queries on employment, work, and income. In the charts below, differentiated by main area typology, we present the high-level household characteristics, as well as the access to amenities, analyzed from this survey.

From Left: Suburban, CBD & Inner City, Township.

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Survey II: City Lockdown Diaries Survey II – 14 responses The second survey gathered additional information on the neighborhoods that our participants were living in under lockdown. We inquired on the interactions within and between neighbours before and during lockdown. We also inquired on the presence and activities of security and police during the lockdown window, work, neighbourhood life and support, and participants’ coping mechanisms under lockdown.

The charts below indicate the different observations on surveillance and security, outlining the heavier observation of private security in the suburban typology areas, the heavy presence of police and army in the inner city areas, as well as the diverse observations of security agencies in the township areas.

From top: Suburban, CBD & Inner City and Township participants

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Survey III: Lockdown Experiences in Gauteng – Survey – 127 responses This survey was sent to a wider audience, gathering information on household experiences during lockdown, and drawing queries from both Survey I and II. As indicated by the infographics below, majority of participants for this survey were from Suburban areas.

In the charts below, we distribution of participants by typology, and the theme of mobility before, and during Level-5 Lockdown. As indicated in the charts, residents across all area typologies were sometimes unable to access some essential goods within their neighborhoods, and relied mainly on private means of transport (or ride-sharing platforms) to aquire them while under lockdown.

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