Times Of Swaziland: ‘LOCKDOWN HAS BROUGHT SICKNESS, STARVATION’

‘LOCKDOWN HAS BROUGHT SICKNESS, STARVATION’
================================================================================
BY ANDILE NSIBANDE on 21/04/2020 07:20:00


NSALITJE – Borderline residents who were thrown out of work by the
coronavirus-tied lockdown are struggling to stay alive, with virtually nothing
to eat.
The unprecedented instruction for people to remain in their homesteads is biting
hard on the communities living closer to the borderlines, where most family
breadwinners eked a living through informal work on South African farms located
closer to the country.
One particular family of Mahlabathini, around Lavumisa, disclosed that they
survived with the support of a young family member who goes around searching for
employment on the farms and sugar cane plantations around Pongola.
Crossing
The concerned family members explained that the family member resided with them
and used a nearby informal crossing to get to his workplace.
However, after the South African Government imposed a total lockdown, such an
arrangement had to change.
Most of the locals employed in that country found themselves being confined
there, making it difficult for them to
provide food for their families.
Lindiwe Mamba, a resident, said before the stay-at-home order by the
neighbouring country, their siblings  were able to bring food with them every
evening but all that could no longer be achieved because they were now confined
to the neighbouring country.
Apart from the loss of breadwinners who are now stuck in the neighbouring
country, the woman said some hardworking residents had also been unable to
support their families the way they used to do before the lockdown.
Mamba said at her homestead, she was the sole income earner, from selling her
wares at the local bus station.
However, since the lockdown, nothing in the form of income or food had been
flowing into the homestead.
“I can hear people talking about the coronavirus, but for me my concern now is
hunger. I used to sell snacks and vegetables at the local bus station, which
mostly serviced commuters who used the informal crossing, but now I am not able
to sell because we were ordered to stay at home. It is like these hands of mine
have been cut off, and I have become useless to my children who have to eat in
order to live,” lamented the woman.
Combating
Although she is aware what government is trying to achieve by the lockdown –
combating the spread of coronavirus – she said for her the curfew had only
been able to achieve two things: sickness and starvation.
“Now we sleep without having eaten anything and wake up with nothing to eat
again. When you have been able to borrow money from neighbours you try to cross
to Pongola to buy mealie-meal and other essentials, but the local soldiers turn
you back. On occasions where you are able to evade the local soldiers, their
counterparts in South Africa spill your mealie-meal and further subject you to
hard punishment,” narrated the woman.At present, the woman said her family had
been able to survive on porridge and edible greens like okra.
The local army Spokesperson Lieutenant Tengetile Khumalo confirmed that the army
was turning away locals they found along the borderlines, who would normally be
attempting to cross over into South Africa.
“We implore the nation to do what is expected of them during the lockdown
period, until the situation returns to normality,” she said.