AFRICA’S GOVERNANCE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 | PRELIMINARY REPORT 2020
The results indicate that although a majority of
African citizens do not consider as legitimate the
quarantine and lockdown measures as reported
from a country-average of 62% undertaken in 34
African countries (Figure 3). These quarantines
and partial/total lockdowns in Africa countries
may have produced positive results in curbing
the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic, but the toll
is huge on inequality, as it puts pressure on daily
livelihoods and access to basic services such as
commodity markets, water and toilet facilities.
Access to these services requires that citizens
leave their houses or compound on a daily and
regular basis.
economic terms, to guide countries in the
phased implementation of these measures. The
application of the policy remains experimental
and the political ramifications for Africa may be
serious if the proportion of the population in
favour of lockdowns diminishes due to pressures
the policy imposes on livelihoods.
Figure 4: Case Study of South Africa
South Africa case study (Afrobarometer survey
2020).
In South Africa, for example, about half of the
citizens do not have piped water (47%) or toilet
facilities (51%) in their homes. In fact, 44% of rural
dwellers said they must leave their compound to
access water. And while people are encouraged to
work from home during the lockdown, only 58%
enjoy a supply of electricity that works more than
half the time. Access to basic services is unequally
distributed among different groups. While two in
three urban residents (67%) have piped water in
their homes, only one in five rural residents (22%)
do.
A challenge for governance of the epidemic
is determining the form and duration that this
policy may be applied without a significant
rollback in development gains, livelihood and/
or infringement of fundamental human rights.
To date no quantitative benchmarks have been
established by multilateral institutions, in either
public health epidemiological terms or national
Figure 5:
by socio-demographic group | south africa | 2018
20