'How do we stay safe?': Life in an informal settlement, where following lockdown rules is impossible

08 April 2020 - 06:30 By Shonisani Tshikalange
subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now
Evelyn Masuvhelele keeps her young children busy with reading and drawing during the day. Her family of 10 live in a shack with only two rooms.
Evelyn Masuvhelele keeps her young children busy with reading and drawing during the day. Her family of 10 live in a shack with only two rooms.
Image: Shonisani Tshikalange

“Practising good hygiene and following physical distancing rules is impossible for my family,” 47-year-old Evelyn Masuvhelele said.

This, she said, is because she lives together with her family of 10 in a two-room shack. The luxury of space is something they do not have.

When TimesLIVE visited Masuvhelele in the Ntsako Village informal settlement in Atteridgville, near Pretoria, on Monday, she said she was scared for her family during the  coronavirus pandemic because their living conditions forced her to go against health advice.

She said when her daughter-in-law started coughing last week she panicked because she wondered whether the cough was Covid-19-related.

“I thought we were going to die together as a family because if one gets it here, then we all get it,” she said.

Masuvhelele said even though she was familiar with the health and lockdown regulations, there was nothing she could do to adhere to them.

More than 200 people share two toilets around here. We are not safe
Evelyn Masuvhelele

“We only have two rooms. The one my son uses with his wife and their young child, while I and the rest of the children sleep here, in the sitting area. How can we protect each other from the virus if we are sharing the same bed and blanket between four?

“We cook here and sleep here,” she said, pointing at a room divided by two beds and a two-seater couch.

“When one person coughs we wonder if the virus has arrived. There is no way we can isolate the person or physically distance ourselves. It’s impossible.

 “More than 200 people share two toilets around here [in the informal settlement]. We are not safe,” Masuvhelele said.

She said a lockdown day for her involved walking to a tap and standing in a queue to get water, and sending some of her children to try to charge her cellphone and buy bread.

“We have to walk a long distance to get water, and with the queue there is no physical distancing. We don’t have electricity so we use a fire to cook,” she said.

Informal settlement resident Evelyn Masuvhelele shows the TimesLIVE team where she cooks for her family.
Informal settlement resident Evelyn Masuvhelele shows the TimesLIVE team where she cooks for her family.
Image: Shonisani Tshikalange

To try to keep her children and grandchildren busy, the 47-year old helps them read and draw inside the shack.

“We have to sit together. We don’t have space to allow us to follow the health protocols in a shack.

“I try to make them read during the day, but they are not coping. When it is hot, the shack becomes extremely hot. I can’t keep them inside when it’s like that. They go and wander around outside on the streets. They might suffocate from the heat inside,” she said.

Masuvhelele said the family would soon run out of food.

“We are going to starve to death soon. The grant money is already finished. With me sitting and not doing any part-time jobs, I don’t know what I will do with my children. I cannot cope. My children will soon starve,” Masuvhelele said.

She said she could not afford sanitisers for the family to use.

“I don’t know what is happening  in the country because my phone is off and there is no electricity. My phone has been off for four days. I don’t know if there was any announcement made by the president,” she said.

The worried woman pleaded for government to help reduce overcrowding in informal settlements for the sake of people's health.

A Grade 11 pupil from Flavius Mareka High School, who also lives in the informal settlement, was worried that even though there were programmes to help learners during the lockdown, he wasn’t able to access these.

The pupil lives in a shack without electricity. He has no access to TV, the internet or radio.

“I don't have access to anything, not even a radio. We cannot physically distance. It is impossible because we do everything in the same room. We sleep where we cook and bath,” he said.

The 17-year-old said he can only study from his textbooks and hope it is enough for him to pass.

The shack in Ntsako Village which is home for a 17-year-old pupil. The fire is where meals are prepared and the chair is where breakfast was eaten.
The shack in Ntsako Village which is home for a 17-year-old pupil. The fire is where meals are prepared and the chair is where breakfast was eaten.
Image: Shonisani Tshikalange

Tiyiselani Nthangeni from Jeffsville informal settlement said physical distancing was impossible for him since everything he needs is accessed by walking out of his shack.

“We share a lot of things. Some of us don’t have toilets, so we must ask our neighbours. More than seven families are using one tap and toilet, and we cannot protect something that is being used by everyone,” he said.

The 27-year-old said he was living a normal life regardless of the pandemic.

“I live like life is normal, like there is no corona.

“There is no way I can distance myself because everything I need is outside, including water. Everything I want is outside, so I must walk. Fourteen people use the same facilities, so how do we stay safe when it’s like that?” he asked.


subscribe Just R20 for the first month. Support independent journalism by subscribing to our digital news package.
Subscribe now