Correspondent|Despite all efforts of the South African government to ensure that the first day of the lockdown goes as smoothly as possible, it has proven to be a complete failure, with the majority of South African especially black South Africans living in townships and rural areas and most of them living below the poverty line, staying at home for 21 days was not an option. Most Gauteng townships today has been business as usual with everyone up and about with the normal lives. 

The biggest issue is that not enough time was given for people to adjust to the lockdown, the majority of people in townships have not received their social grants or wages from work as it is not month-end yet, this means that people still need to go out and look for ways to survive the day to day until those little amounts come so they can go buy food and supplies for the month. 

The information of the coronavirus and how the government is assisting the disadvantaged didn’t reach the right ears, most township people don’t know where to go to get assistance or who to call because the government focused on the action of the lockdown instead of the day to day reality of how it will be implemented. People can receive food parcels but they don’t know this and therefore are not asking for those type of assistance even if they knew it would have still taken a couple of days to ensure that everyone in all townships receives those care packs. 

Malls are flooded with people trying to buy things to ensure they have supplies and food for the 21 days reason being there is not enough malls for the number of people in townships, this is not a new thing, it is the reality of our people millions live in townships sharing one or two malls this means that it will take a couple of days for people to get everything they need and even if they do get into those shops they might just find what they need finished.

The government needs to step in and actually call on those private supermarkets so identify the disadvantaged and for one or two days hand out food parcels and for Saasa to pay people earlier so that the chaos stops and people can go back into their houses and actual take care of themselves, this might take a couple of days but focus needs to be towards those who are disadvantaged and are vulnerable right now.