E Cape: No water, long queues ... and scared undertakers

With people queuing for services, no water, lax enforcement of mask rules and plenty of partying, the virus is flourishing once again

This weekend will mark two months since lockdown level one kicked in on 21 September. Then, the daily cases were at an all-time low, the economy was bleeding and hotspots were under control. The country had 661 936 cumulative cases.

Fast- forward and the number of Covid-19 cases has increased by almost 100 000. The Eastern Cape has about 25% of the new cases contributing to the latest wave. The province has recorded the highest number of new infections since lockdown level one was introduced.

Long queues at South African Social Security Agency offices, home affairs and at taxi ranks are driving the surge, say community members in the most-affected areas. Others believe that large social gatherings, drinking sprees in taverns and crowded shops are driving the spread of the virus.

Meanwhile, undertakers are very concerned about the mortality rate and how people are dealing with Covid-19 cases in their homes.

Both the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality and surrounding Sarah Baartman district municipality are regarded as hotspot areas.

The long queues

On Wednesday morning, about 100 frustrated ID applicants were turned away from a home affairs office in Nelson Mandela Bay after two staff members tested positive.

The angry applicants ignored the precautionary measures and complained about the poor service as an official asked them to go back home for the office to be fumigated. One of the applicants, Mpumelelo Mangcangaza from Kwazakhele, said: “The service is very poor here. Due to frustrations, people are not adhering to regulations. Every day we are turned away. It’s either there is a Covid-19 case or the system is offline. Then we end up pushing one another, because we all want to be first in the long queue. Yes, I am scared of the virus. But I have no choice: I need my ID.”

Sibusiso Tengile, 31, said: “People are not wearing their masks properly. We stand in these long queues for too long and end up not maintaining the social distance. There are people who arrived here at 4am.”

Home affairs provincial manager Gcinile Mabulu said that the office could not be held responsible for the Covid-19 infections.

“When the system is down without us knowing it, the public is … advised to leave and probably return the following day. Some officials have incidentally caught the infection. Today, the service provider could not come because some of its workers caught the virus.”

No water to wash our hands

Mbuzeli Jovuka, the regional secretary of the South African National Civic Organisation in Sarah Baartman, told the Mail & Guardian that poor access to water has exacerbated the pandemic’s spread.

“In Addo, especially in ward five and six, there is a water crisis. We all rely on one water reservoir because the pump station for the second reservoir was damaged three years ago and has not been fixed. There are areas where people don’t get water at all. In some of these areas, they get water in their taps at night when the water demand has dropped. The municipality is even unable to supply the residents with Jojo tanks.”

Jovuka labelled the situation as dire. When community members die at home there is no fumigation and the community relies on the Sundays River Valley Collaborative — a volunteer group — to come and clean.

“I am part of that group, but now we have run out of sanitisers. In Kwanomathamsanqa in Addo, there is an area called Luthando, which has 801 households. Almost 50% of the people there have tested positive.

“On Saturday another woman was buried due to Covid-19, and on Tuesday her daughter passed away. The family asked me to fumigate the house, but I couldn’t because I had run out of sanitisers. This month alone three municipal workers have passed away. Every two weeks, municipal offices are shutting down due to infections,” he said.

But Jovuka bemoans people’s attitude towards the virus: many do not practise the precautionary measures such as social distancing and “officials are not conducting awareness campaigns”, he said. “People think the virus no longer exists.

Undertakers are scared

Loyiso Singata, the deputy regional secretary of National Funeral Practitioners of South Africa in Nelson Mandela Bay, said that if young people did not change their behaviour there would be no space in morgues and in hospitals.

“Every day we are collecting Covid19-death-related bodies both at hospitals and at homes. It is worse in Motherwell. In the past three weeks, the death rate has escalated,” he said. “I never expected such an increase in my rural town of Alexandria. Youth go to these taverns and parties. Then they come back home and infect the elderly. This week alone I have six Covid-19 funerals there.”

Singata said families’ failure to disclose their deceased relatives’ status also puts them at high risk.

“Four undertakers have tested positive and one of them passed away in Uitenhage. We are also getting infected because some of the families don’t divulge the cause of death when we pick up bodies at their homes, for fear of stigma.”

What the province is doing

Premier Oscar Mabuyane’s spokesperson, Mvusiwekhaya Sicwetsha, said the provincial government will embark on mass testing, screening, and tracking and tracing people. It will also enforce the wearing of masks in public.

“The province will receive additional testing resources from the national government — personnel for tracking and tracing to help us with mass testing and screening. Health Minister Zweli Mkhize will announce more details on this during his visit to the Nelson Mandela Bay metro and Sarah Baartman this week,” he said.

Sicwetsha added that Cuban doctors have been reassigned to assist with the resurgence of Covid-19 infections and the team will be testing everyone between the ages of 16 and 60 in both municipalities, as well as the contacts of people who tested positive for coronavirus

“The province has also resolved to enforce wearing of masks in these two municipalities by making maskwearing mandatory in public, with police proactively insisting on wearing of masks.”

The uptick in the country

Though Gauteng still has the highest number of cumulative cases, at 232 147, over the past two months it has registered just over 14 000 new cases. The Western Cape has registered 13 302. The Eastern Cape has recorded 23 813 new cases, and is leading the infection hotspots.

Two months ago, the country was recording about 725 new cases a day. Now we are close to 3 000.

The surge was recorded around the end of October when cases in the leading infection provinces began to increase rapidly. The Eastern Cape recorded more than 500 new cases in one day. The rate of new cases in the province has remained high, and has since rocketed to more than 1 000 cases a day. The highest number was 1 181 new cases in one day.

From 28 October, the average daily infection rate has been 735 in the province, compared to Gauteng and Western Cape, which are both at fewer than 300 cases a day.