There are many who still don’t have access to clean water - essential in the fight against the disease - 26 years after our first Freedom Day
This year, Freedom Day on April 27 came and went without celebration for women in townships and on farms in South Africa. It was just another day of struggle, with women having to walk at least two kilometres to, sometimes from empty JoJo tanks, fending off attacks on the way, and now being stopped and sent back home by police who say they are maintaining Covid-19 lockdown rules. Other struggles wait for them back at home.
It is a disturbing irony then that, during this pandemic, the government is advising that water is essential to curbing the contraction of the disease. The plight of poor communities across the country who don’t have a regular supply of water has exposed the fault lines and legacy of skewed spatial planning andCovid-19 assistance
Medical Nziba, an activist in Somkhele, says: “The nearest water resource is far away from our home. We must walk for two kilometres. Government is failing to assist us to overcome this obstacle for many years and even now during this challenging time of fighting the coronavirus. We are worried if the spread of the virus penetrated our villages, how do we get water to use and stay safe?”
Poorer communities do not have the luxury of physical distancing or simply turning on a tap to prevent the threat or transmission of Covid-19. The effects of the pandemic are an added struggle to an already heavy burden for women.
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