Will Ramaphosa’s R500bn stimulus reach SA’s poor?
Millions of South Africans’ lives have been upended by Covid-19 and the government’s five-week lockdown to arrest the spread of the virus. But those living in townships and informal settlements are bearing the brunt, as poverty bites
23 April 2020 - 05:00
Lebohang Motloung, a grade 11 pupil, lives in Tembisa, the sprawling township on the East Rand. He stays in a single room shack and cares for his sick mother and father.
At 19 years old, he’s at an age when young men feel invincible. But right now, Motloung tells the FM, he’s afraid. Not of Covid-19 — that’s a distant, almost abstract concern. Rather, his family has no food, and he’s heard talk of the brutality of the police and soldiers patrolling the township. So he’s worried about stepping outside to find food.
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