South African police, on Tuesday, April 14th, 2020, fired teargas and rubber bullets in confrontations with the residents of Cape Town protesting over lack of access to food aid during coronavirus lockdown.

Hundreds of angry people fought with the police, setting up barricades on the streets with burning tyres and hurling rocks in Mitchells Plain over undelivered food parcels.

We have small children. We want to eat. They must also eat,

said resident and mother Nazile Bobbs.

They said we are going to get parcels, where (are) the parcels? How long are we (going to be) in the lockdown?

Currently, South Africa is in the middle of a government-ordered five-week lockdown, to contain the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19), which has so far infected more than 2,400 people in the country.

President Cyril Ramaphosa has promised that the government would provide essential, basic items like food and water supplies to the poorest people in South Africa.

Many people, particularly those working in the informal sector, are unable to conduct their businesses and have lost means of livelihood, as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown which commenced on Friday, March 27th, 2020.

Community leader, Liezl Manual, said people trooped out of their residences “frustrated wanting to know” where the promised food parcels were.

I don’t think Ramaphosa is doing something,

said another resident, identified as Denise Martin, adding that

people would rather die of coronavirus than to die in our homes of hunger.

Some government officials in the country were starting to show signs of being overwhelmed by the surging needs in a country with high income disparity.

People are so desperate for aid such that even those people that would not be provided by us think they can get support from us,

said Busisiwe Memela-Khambula, the CEO of SA Social Security Agency (Sassa), a government department responsible for distributing food aid.

She said that the department ordinarily helps those generally experiencing hardships, people with disability and those who failed to access their social security grants.

But unfortunately now everybody is experiencing hardships,

she said on local television.

Justin Nwosu

Justin Nwosu is the founder and publisher of Flavision. His core interest is in writing unbiased news about Nigeria in particular and Africa in general. He’s a strong adherent of investigative journalism, with a bent on exposing corruption, abuse of power and societal ills.