LETTER: Different plan for townships

SA has experienced social distancing since the 1918 flu pandemic, where insanitary housing was identified as a driver behind the high death rate.

Townships were built at a distance from the original settlements primarily to contain disease; unfortunately over the years this practice became a foundation of apartheid.

The latest movement of population from the rural areas to SA’s cities has worsened the problem of insanitary housing. The current “lockdown” and its echoes of apartheid repression in the townships have not been understood.

Instead of forcing the township population to obey the same rules as appear to be working in the “leafy suburbs”, a different strategy of restricting movement in and out of the townships combined with testing and health checks should be adopted instead.

Continued insensitivity to our cultural history runs the risk of resulting in social unrest that will be counterproductive in limiting the spread of Covid-19.  

James Cunningham
Camps Bay