Communities must use COVID-19 ‘chaos’ for change

30 June 2020 | Story Carla Bernardo. Read time 8 min.
Communities were called on to use the COVID-19 pandemic to drive social change in the fourth conversation of the UCT Summer School series. <strong>Photo</strong> <a href="https://www.pexels.com/photo/monochrome-photo-of-resist-signage-3141240/" target="_blank">Pexels</a>.
Communities were called on to use the COVID-19 pandemic to drive social change in the fourth conversation of the UCT Summer School series. Photo Pexels.

“This is a necessary chaos. This is one of the most important chaotic periods we have as a species. It is the biggest opportunity for true decoloniality to occur.”

This is the view of Tauriq Jenkins on the COVID-19 pandemic, the impact of the crisis on communities, and the potential for change. Jenkins is an accredited South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) monitor, high commissioner of the Goringhaicona Khoi Khoin Indigenous Traditional Council, and the chair of the A/Xarra Restorative Justice Forum, which is based at the University of Cape Town’s (UCT) Centre for African Studies.

Tauriq Jenkins mentioned the death of Elma Robyn Montsumi and how gender-based violence remains a volatile issue. He said related abuses committed by the police or the military cannot be swept under the carpet. Photo Supplied.

Jenkins was one of three panellists speaking about “community leadership in times of crisis”, the focus of the fourth conversation in the UCT Summer School’s “Unlocking COVID-19: Current realities, future opportunities?” series. The webinar series features conversations with leading authorities, UCT academics and alumni. This conversation, which took place on Wednesday, 24 June, was hosted by the UCT Klaus-Jürgen Bathe Leadership Programme, a scholarship programme that supports young future leaders at the university.

Joining Jenkins on the panel was Selam Kebede from Ethiopia and Nkosana Mazibiza from Zimbabwe. The moderator was Lorenzo Davids, the chief executive officer of the Community Chest who is pursuing his MPhil in Social Innovation at UCT’s Graduate School of Business.

Lorenzo Davids also writes the column #changethestory for the Cape Argus. Photo Supplied.

For Jenkins, this “necessary chaos” must belong to communities; it is crucial that they are at the centre of the change-making and that the narrative is that of the poor and working class. He warned that the status quo will be concretised if communities do not latch onto the opportunities presented by the chaos.

“The world has changed and so it is up to us to determine how that change is going to happen,” he said.

Dangerous precedent

After nearly 100 days in lockdown, Jenkins reflected on how government, civil society and communities had fared. In particular, he reflected on his experience as a SAHRC monitor reporting on violations during lockdown and as a human rights activist in the Western Cape.

Jenkins said that while South Africa had enjoyed relatively few confirmed cases in the earlier stages, many knew that there was the potential for an explosive situation. This was because of exacerbating factors, such as apartheid spatial planning, poverty and communities in high-density areas battling with tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS crises, and various other comorbidities. For Jenkins, the question was how the government would respond.

On the government’s deployment of the military, Jenkins said there was “a conflation in terms of the interpretation of what is a national disaster to what was a state of emergency”. He said the deployment evoked the memory of an experience which the country has been trying to move away from since 1994. Added to this was concerning behaviour by law enforcement, which includes demolitions, evictions and the harassment of informal traders.

Selam Kebede leads Antler’s work in Ethiopia as a country director. Antler is a venture capital and start-up generator. She is also part of the Ethiopian COVID-19 response taskforce, a fully volunteer-based group of professionals from across the globe. Photo Supplied.

Furthermore, under Level 5 of the lockdown, civil society and watchdog organisations were unable to fulfil their mandates because, said Jenkins, “they literally could not get out of the front door” and were initially not granted essential permits. He said this had left a vacuum on the streets and set a dangerous precedent.

Fortunately, it was at this moment that Chapter 9 institutions, such as the SAHRC, entered into agreements with civil society, extending their Section 11 mandate to allow civil society to continue their work on the ground.

Most vulnerable

Jenkins said that while the COVID-19 pandemic has affected South Africa’s most vulnerable the worst, it is also the most vulnerable in communities who have taken agency and have advocated for themselves.

“Around the country you’ve seen civil society poignantly identifying incidents of oppression and actually mobilising a lot of support around that,” he said.

To illustrate a way in which communities had mobilised, Jenkins used the example of the City of Cape Town’s relocation of almost 2 000 homeless people to Strandfontein. As an SAHRC monitor, Jenkins witnessed numerous human rights violations at the camp and added that the City attempted to interdict the SAHRC with a “gag order, seemingly to silence reports” of these violations. Fortunately, through the mobilisation and work of civil society and community members, the camp was eventually closed. This, said Jenkins, was indicative of the community’s consciousness, which has centred around responsibility for protecting the most vulnerable in society.

Nkosana Mazibisa is the founder of MatLive, a community-based business incubation centre. He is running several programmes supporting COVID-19 relief efforts on the ground. Photo Supplied.

Another example of community mobilisation during the lockdown has been the formation of broad-based coalitions that are focused on protecting the most vulnerable. These coalitions, he said, are aware that at risk is not only the spread of COVID-19 and the loss of lives, but also “the very fibre of who we are as South Africans in terms of how we relate to our human rights”. It is because of this that Jenkins believes that despite the restrictive and unnatural conditions of lockdown, there has been “an extraordinary sense of mobility”.

“There is an extraordinary sense of action, of duty that is being deployed all around the country … we have been able to mobilise virtually and get to know people and communities virtually and almost find each other again,” he said. “And so, one of the most powerful things that have come about [in] this crisis is a common language of what we need to protect.”

New normal

Concluding the webinar conversation, Jenkins called for absolute vigilance from civil society and communities.

“What we have to be very careful of is the fact that whatever the ‘new normal’ is now, it should absolutely not be the new normal for us as civil society,” he warned.

As the lockdown comes to an end, Jenkins called on civil society and communities to identify and unpack areas where political power had been asserted. He said it was crucial to do so because often when countries emerge from disasters, authorities tend to extend restrictions from abnormal conditions to a normal situation.

“History will tell us that we have to be concerned. We need to be sure that our analysis is good and that we hold power to account,” he said.


Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Please view the republishing articles page for more information.


Coronavirus Disease 2019 updates

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that caused President Cyril Ramaphosa to declare a national disaster in South Africa on 15 March and implement a national lockdown from 26 March.

UCT is taking the threat of infection in our university community extremely seriously, and this page will be updated regularly with the latest COVID-19 information.

Campus updates

 
  •  Information
  •  Normal
  •  Caution
  •  Alert

Daily updates


Friday, 5 February 14:20, 5 February 2021
Monday, 4 January 16:50, 4 January 2021
Friday, 18 December 11:30, 18 December 2020
Thursday, 19 November 09:30, 19 November 2020
Friday, 13 November 12:40, 13 November 2020
Friday, 16 October 10:05, 16 October 2020
Wednesday, 14 October 12:50, 14 October 2020
Tuesday, 22 September 14:10, 22 September 2020
Friday, 11 September 10:05, 11 September 2020
Monday, 31 August 12:20, 31 August 2020
Wednesday, 12 August 10:20, 12 August 2020
Friday, 7 August 11:24, 7 August 2020
Thursday, 6 August 18:26, 6 August 2020
Monday, 27 July 14:00, 27 July 2020
Wednesday, 15 July 09:30, 15 July 2020
Monday, 13 July 14:25, 13 July 2020
Monday, 6 July 16:20, 6 July 2020
Thursday, 25 June 10:15, 25 June 2020
Tuesday, 23 June 12:30, 23 June 2020
Thursday, 18 June 17:35, 18 June 2020
Wednesday, 17 June 10:45, 17 June 2020
Tuesday, 2 June 12:20, 2 June 2020
Friday, 29 May 09:25, 29 May 2020
Monday, 25 May 14:00, 25 May 2020
Thursday, 21 May 12:00, 21 May 2020
Wednesday, 6 May 10:00, 6 May 2020
Tuesday, 5 May 17:05, 5 May 2020
Thursday, 30 April 17:10, 30 April 2020
Tuesday, 28 April 10:30, 28 April 2020
Friday, 24 April 09:35, 24 April 2020
Thursday, 23 April 17:00, 23 April 2020
Wednesday, 22 April 14:25, 22 April 2020
Monday, 20 April 17:45, 20 April 2020
Friday, 17 April 12:30, 17 April 2020
Thursday, 16 April 09:45, 16 April 2020
Tuesday, 14 April 11:30, 14 April 2020
Thursday, 9 April 09:00, 9 April 2020
Wednesday, 8 April 15:40, 8 April 2020
Wednesday, 1 April 15:50, 1 April 2020
Friday, 27 March 11:40, 27 March 2020
Thursday, 26 March 18:30, 26 March 2020
Tuesday, 24 March 15:40, 24 March 2020
Monday, 23 March 15:40, 23 March 2020
Friday, 20 March 16:00, 20 March 2020
Thursday, 19 March 09:15, 19 March 2020
Wednesday, 18 March 16:00, 18 March 2020
Tuesday, 17 March 12:50, 17 March 2020
Monday, 16 March 17:15, 16 March 2020

Campus communications


New SRC and other updates 16:44, 4 November 2020
Virtual graduation ceremonies 13:30, 21 October 2020
Online staff assembly and other updates 15:09, 30 September 2020
Fee adjustments and other updates 15:21, 16 September 2020
Call for proposals: TLC2020 10:15, 26 August 2020
SAULM survey and other updates 15:30, 5 August 2020
COVID-19 cases and other updates 15:26, 5 August 2020
New UCT Council and other updates 15:12, 15 July 2020
Upcoming UCT virtual events 09:30, 15 July 2020
Pre-paid data for UCT students 14:25, 22 April 2020
Update for postgraduate students 12:55, 20 April 2020
UCT Human Resources and COVID-19 16:05, 19 March 2020
UCT confirms second COVID-19 case 09:15, 19 March 2020
Update on UCT COVID-19 response 13:50, 11 March 2020
Update on COVID-19 17:37, 6 March 2020

Resources

Video messages from the Department of Medicine

Getting credible, evidence-based, accessible information and recommendations relating to COVID-19

The Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town and Groote Schuur Hospital, are producing educational video material for use on digital platforms and in multiple languages. The information contained in these videos is authenticated and endorsed by the team of experts based in the Department of Medicine. Many of the recommendations are based on current best evidence and are aligned to provincial, national and international guidelines. For more information on UCT’s Department of Medicine, please visit the website.


To watch more videos like these, visit the Department of Medicine’s YouTube channel.

Useful information from UCT

External resources


News and opinions


Statements and media releases


Media releases



Read more  

Statements from Government



 
 

In an email to the UCT community, Vice-Chancellor Professor Mamokgethi Phakeng said:
“COVID-19, caused by the virus SARS-CoV-2, is a rapidly changing epidemic. [...] Information [...] will be updated as and when new information becomes available.”

 

We are continuing to monitor the situation and we will be updating the UCT community regularly – as and when there are further updates. If you are concerned or need more information, students can contact the Student Wellness Service on 021 650 5620 or 021 650 1271 (after hours), while staff can contact 021 650 5685.

 

TOP