Covid-19 Pandemic in South Africa: An Exploration on Citizen Adherence to Protocols and Communication
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© JHE 2021 J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)
PRINT: ISSN 0970-9274 ONLINE: ISSN 2456-6608 DOI: 10.31901/24566608.2020/73.1-3.3302
Covid-19 Pandemic in South Africa:
An Exploration on Citizen Adherence to
Protocols and Communication
Lungisani Moyo1 and Oluyinka O. Osunkunle2
Department of Communication, University of Fort Hare, Private Bag X 1314, Alice 5700
E-mail: 1, 2
KEYWORDS COVID-19 Pandemic. Information Dissemination. Mass Media. Social Media. Reliability of News.
Orientation and Accountability of News Reporting System
ABSTRACT This paper sought to explore the general public’s response to the national communications about
COVID-19 in the Eastern Cape Province of South Africa. A qualitative research strategy was utilised to conduct
fieldwork in Scenery Park Phase 1 and 2 locations in Buffalo City Metropolitan Municipality in King Williams town
CBD, and Alice town CBD in the Eastern Cape Province, South Africa to understand the context of the participants.
Exploratory and descriptive approaches were used in this study. Data collection was cross-sectional as information
was gathered once through face-to-face interviews with purposively selected 30 community members and leaders, 10
from each location. The findings indicated that, dissemination of information about COVID-19 was ineffective and
inadequate for little was done to address the illiterate population. The study recommends the training and development
of crisis leadership competencies as a proactive measure. The study also recommends spirited awareness campaigns
ahead of an impending disaster to fully educate and empower the masses.
INTRODUCTION The year 2020 has been characterised by an
overwhelming occurrence that put the whole
The COVID-19 outbreak was first discovered world on standstill as people witnessed the dev-
in Wuhan (China) in December 2019, however, astating impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The
its impact transcended beyond the boundaries coronavirus or COVID-19 has had an unrivalled
of China (WHO 2020). Like a veld fire, the virus impact on many sectors of life, especially on
reached global frontiers at an unimaginable pace industries and academic systems throughout the
causing huge pressures on health systems of world (Lempinen 2020). By February 2020 the
many countries. Although the world has wit- world was confronted by a menace that many
nessed natural disasters such as tsunamis and did not even understand, and media platforms
earthquakes in Indonesia and Haiti, civil con- were overwhelmingly flooded with news of COV-
flicts in Rwanda, Sierra Leone and Libya and the ID-19 cases from mostly Western countries such
Vuwani district in Limpopo, South Africa, and a as Italy, Spain, UK and so many others. This
turned the world in an unimaginable pandemo-
health pandemic (Ebola) in West Africa, the
nium with people panicking and making impul-
COVID-19 has posed challenges in various as- sive decisions (Lloyd-Sherlock et al. 2020). Blunt-
pects of life, for example, education, economic ly, with the number of cases increasing in vari-
and health to which disaster management and ous countries it become clear to everyone that
administration services become the focal point. the coronavirus had no boundaries, hence ev-
Like the rest of the world, South Africa activated eryone felt vulnerable (Ophir and Jamieson
its Disaster Management Act of 2002 and a na- 2020). In South Africa, the effect began when
tional COVID-19 centre was established as a re- social distancing started as a social practice
sponse to the virus. Directives were cascaded throughout the country from mid-March, and
down to planning and programming of respons- the impact strengthened even more when Presi-
es for education continuity, economy recovery, dent Cyril Ramaphosa announced (and then ex-
and preparation to exit the lockdown. Through tended) a national lockdown from midnight on
the national command centre, the nation of South 26th March 2020 to the end of April 2020. By the
Africa was guided by five levels lockdown with end of April 2020 the nation was operating on
conditions and regulations (Halperin 2020). level based lockdown (Nhamo et al. 2020).78 LUNGISANI MOYO AND OLUYINKA O. OSUNKUNLE
South Africans across the nation had many marised in regularly updated guidelines pub-
questions, which included, what would be the lished by national and international authorities,
impact of the coronavirus on the economy and covering latest information on the virus, its mode
other sectors across the country, and how pre- of transmission, its spread, and the susceptibil-
pared is the government to deal with the ordeal ity of different groups within the population.
caused by the virus. Considering what was hap- Reports from countries where the virus
pening in other nations, citizens plunged into reached first indicated that certain aspects of
fear as they became more concerned about their this new infection were not clear but one thing
safety. The academics were forced to embrace a was already clear. According to Lloyd-Sherlock
technology-supported way of teaching and lec- et al. (2020) the risk of dying from COVID-19
turing. Again this gave rise to questions as peo- increases with age, and most of the deaths ob-
ple were wondering how the marginalised popu- served are in people older than 60 years, espe-
lation would cope with the pace of life under cially those with chronic conditions such as car-
coronavirus circumstances, how the education diovascular disease. This had important impli-
system would reach, teach and support learners cations in the way in which public health and
as schools and department offices were in lock- clinical responses were to be developed. COV-
down and teachers were no longer available for ID-19 had an overwhelming impact in high in-
classroom session, and what processes would come countries particularly among the elderly
be followed once the lockdown is lifted. population, thus the situation was likely to be
This paper explores the Eastern Cape Pro- worse in low and middle income countries
vincial government of South Africa’s communi- (LMICs), which contain sixty-nine percent of the
cation strategy during COVID-19, while focus- global population aged more than 60 years and
ing mainly on emergency prevention, prepared- where health systems are weaker. Thus this pa-
ness, response and recovery. Essentially this per sought to explore the reasons for public’s
paper looks on tasks of response, planning, and non-adherence to lockdown rules in relation to
preparation. These tasks combined with mitiga- the Eastern Province of South Africa’s tailor
tion and management constitute disaster admin- made national communication strategy for ad-
istration. Notably, natural disasters have varied dressing the public about COVID-19.
effects on population groups, so it is critical to
know how the affected groups were prepared Aim of the Study
amidst coronavirus uncertainties. Considering
that COVID-19 had a severe impact on the elder- This paper aims to establish the reasons be-
ly it is important that one looks at how informa- hind the non-adherence by the public to lock-
tion around that was disseminated to the mass- down rules and regulations.
es of South Africa.
Research Questions
Problem Statement
This study seeks to answer the following
Regardless of the severity of COVID-19 pan- questions:
demic, global response has been criticised as How has the information about COVID-
being sluggish and slow. In the context of South 19 been communicated across the East-
Africa, the dawning of COVID-19 was witnessed ern Cape Province of South Africa?
when the President announced the national lock- What could be the cause for the public’s
down on the 26th of March 2020. National efforts non-adherence to national lockdown reg-
started gathering pace with the establishment ulations?
of quarantine basis across the country. Howev- What are the lessons and way forward in
er, it is unclear whether those involved in these terms of public administration?
efforts had done enough research on the im-
pending health challenge that they were going Objectives
to deal with. There was a dire need to draw on a
rapidly growing body of research, much sum- The objectives are:
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SOUTH AFRICA 79
To explore the manner in which informa- According to Prompetchara et al. (2020) the
tion about COVID-19 was communicated first outbreak of coronavirus was recorded dur-
across the Eastern Cape Province of ing the period 2002-2003 in which a disease that
South Africa. causes Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome
To establish the cause for the public’s (SARS) was discovered in China. Approximate-
non-adherence to national lockdown reg- ly 8 years later, in 2011 another outbreak of a
ulations. virus known as Middle East Respiratory Syn-
To identify the lessons and recommend drome (MERS) was recorded. However, both
the way forward in terms of public admin- SARS and MERS have been highly linked to the
istration. genus Beta coronavirus with a zoonotic origin.
After 8 years another coronavirus that causes
Literature Review respiratory-related illness was reported in Wu-
han, Hubei, China, a disease now officially
Communication and the Emergence of the known as “the Coronavirus Disease 2019 or
Coronavirus/COVID- 19 COVID-19”. -Similar to the SARS and MERS,
COVID-19 is said to have zoonotic origins and
Health experts, including persons in the is classified as a respiratory disease with a se-
health communication sphere, often structure quenced genome, but distinct in composition
their messages concerning the possibility of (UNDP 2020). Since its early discovery in China
severe public health harm as risk communica- at the end of year 2019, COVID-19 has spread
tion (Reynolds and Seeger 2005), whereas across across the globe with an overwhelming trans-
all organisational settings, including corporate mission and mortality rate. Furthermore, finding
contexts and disaster management, perspectives a lasting solution to this outbreak remains a
have been more often framed as crisis communi- mammoth task for all and sundry. Manifestly,
cation. Hart et al. (2020) underscore that risk not much is known about the scourge, perhaps
communication sets the general response of the years can go by until medical practitioners ful-
public to anticipated disasters. In this regard, ly understand the physiognomies of the patho-
the authors focus on the polarisation in COVID- gens and its likely source, symptoms and the
19 news coverage where some of the established subsequent immune responses to combat the
media covered what could be viewed as political infection (Lempinen 2020).
communication, as the reporting lacked unifor- Nonetheless, the Global COVID-19 Emergen-
mity and congruence. According to Mejova and cy Response Report points out that its genome
Kalimeri (2020), the era of social media has be- is said to be relatively linked to SARS-CoV and
come the main source of communications, but in MERS-CoV and the accumulated clinical and
times of disasters and epidemics, social media experimental data on these previous viruses, one
platforms have ushered not only devastation can postulated and even envisage how the im-
and affliction in the physical world, but also mune system may deal with a particular virus
prompted a deluge of information, opinions, prog- and how the virus may elude any responses.
noses and advice to billions of internet users. Immunology studies of infection have been work-
At the onset of coronavirus, the World ing towards providing solutions as gathered
Health Organisation sent warnings of possible during the SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV outbreak.
circulation of fake news. Interestingly, the virus The accumulated information on coronavirus
has been used in geopolitical attacks, donation infection, the dissemination of such information
solicitations, business promotion, stock market may provide guidance on knowledge gap about
advice, and animal rights campaigning. Conspir- human immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infec-
acy theories became the order of the day and tion. This would definitely give direction on what
there were suggestions of possible misinforma- leads to death of those infected. The insights
tion, ranging from bioweapons to unverifiable might assist in the manufacturing of a vaccine
claims by politicians, to the use of contaminated against current coronavirus (Halperin 2020). To
testing kits and sale of inappropriate facemasks this end, there are questions concerning how
(Shao and Hao 2020). these discoveries were communicated to the
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)80 LUNGISANI MOYO AND OLUYINKA O. OSUNKUNLE
public, and was the communication effective or spread of the disease. The seclusion of groups
not. An understanding on forms of public health and individuals has led to limited access to ac-
communication remains critical. Reynolds and curate information. To disseminate information,
Seeger (2005) proposed that a comprehensive the Data Science for Social Impact research
approach to emergency public health events group at the University of Pretoria, South Afri-
should incorporate both risk communication and ca, has worked on curating and applying public-
crisis communication. ly available data in a way that is computer read-
UNDP (2019) underscores that the COVID- able so that information can be shared with the
19 pandemic has not been just a health crisis, public through both a data repository and a dash-
but also a humanitarian and development crisis board.
that has further threatened to leave deep social, With time and when the lockdown changed
economic and political scars for years to come, to partial restrictions, serious spikes in the num-
particularly in countries already weighed down ber of reported cases were recorded in the West-
by fragility, poverty and conflict. In low-income ern Cape Province, Gauteng, Kwazulu Natal and
countries, the pandemic worsened the situation- in the Eastern Cape Province, the Garden Route
as people lost their sole source of livelihood in the Eastern Cape Province, and other parts of
during the global lockdown period. This forced the Western Cape Province experienced high
many to choose whether to stay indoors and die case rates. Hospital services became enormous-
of hunger or take the risk of contracting the vi- ly hectic resulting in an abrupt restriction of patient
rus while fighting for some ends to meet access to intensive care (Stiegler and Bouchard
(Lundgren and McMakin 2013). UNDP (2020) 2020).
further emphasised that governments and other At the beginning of the outbreak, the East-
stakeholders should promote integrated re- ern Cape had relatively low coronavirus cases,
sponse mechanisms in dealing with COVID-19. but when inter-provincial movement was allowed
In the South African context, COVID-19 was the figured soured up high. There were massive
discovered in early March 2020, and cases start- spreader events, wherein citizens attended large
ed pilling up in the 5th to the 11th week of July gatherings with utmost disregard of physical
2020 recording more than 13,000 cases per day. distancing or wearing of masks, which obvious-
It started with a single case on March 5th then ly was a contributing factor. The situation got
the number of cases increased rapidly, forcing severe to an extent that hospitals were unable to
the South African Government to place the whole cope with the influx of COVID-19 patients, be-
country in complete lockdown for six weeks (Stie- sides any other emergencies (Marivate and Com-
gler and Bouchard 2020). In the onset of the brink 2020). Drabek (2018) underscores that
lockdown people were obedient, however seri- community change agents have to initiate strat-
ous problems with food supply emerged across egies that can increase resilience and reduce
the nation, especially in informal settlements vulnerability. Importantly, emergency managers
leading to riots and confrontation with law en- must transcend the paradigm of community co-
forcement personnel. In tandem, some segments ordination toward a more active image of com-
of the population began to be retrenched result- munity change agents. People respond better
ing in massive breach of lockdown rules- as peo- when they are involved in aspects that affect
ple were struggling to feed their families. The their day-to-day lives.
concern for the generality of South Africans
shifted from the virus to the need for money to Mode of Transmission of Coronavirus
pay rent and buy food. The government organ-
ised food parcels, but the distributions was Considering the rapid spreading of SAR-
marred with favouritism and discrimination CoV-2, the World Health Organisation issued a
(Marivate and Combrink 2020). The government public health emergency of international con-
encouraged the public to observe social distanc- cern (PHEIC) alarm on 30th January 2020. How-
ing, wearing of masks and sanitising to contain ever, knowing the mode to transmission of the
the coronavirus. Travel bans, school closure, epidemic offered a conduit to proper prevention
and quarantine were also applied to limit the practices (World Health Organisation Coronavi-
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SOUTH AFRICA 81
rus Situation-Reports 2020). Epidemiology CoV-2 has occurred with each individual having
Working Group for NCIP Epidemic Response, the potential to spread the infection to at least
Chinese Center for Disease Control and Preven- two or more other people. Based on hospital-
tion (2020) states that the epidemiological char- ised patient data, the majority of COVID-19 cas-
acteristics of an outbreak of COVID-19 in China es (about 80%) presented with asymptomatic or
postulate that most of the laboratory-confirmed with mild symptoms while the remainder are se-
infected patients (27 out of 41 cases) had links to vere or critical. Epidemiology Working Group
Wuhan seafood market (Petropoulos and for NCIP Epidemic Response, Chinese Center
Makridakis 2020). Subsequently, investigations for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) hy-
to identify the root of SAR-CoV-2, concentrat- pothesised that the severity and fatality rate of
ing on animals customarily traded within the COVID-19 are milder than that of SARS and
open market such as snakes, birds and other MERS. With similar clinical presentations as
small mammals commenced. However, there is SARS and MERS, the most common symptoms
no tangible result that links SAR-CoV-2 to ani- of COVID-19 are fever, fatigue, and respiratory
mals. Nonetheless, the pangolins were found to symptoms including cough, sore throat and
be a closest link with the coronavirus genetic shortness of breath. Most patients developed
sequences from the animals and from humans lymphopenia and pneumonia with characteris-
infected during the outbreak with ninety-nine tic pulmonary ground glass opacity changes on
percent match (Petropoulos and Makridakis chest CT (WHO 2020).
2020).
Furthermore, Epidemiology Working Group Susceptible Population
for NCIP Epidemic Response, Chinese Center
for Disease Control and Prevention (2020) state By February 12, 2020, the Epidemiology
that in an investigation carried out in Wuhan, Working Group for NCIP Epidemic Response,
results dictated that there was no link with those Chinese Center for Disease Control and Preven-
infected and their proximity to the market (Halp- tion (2020) reported that the median age for se-
erin 2020). In South Africa, the first confirmed vere infections was 58 years. Compared with
case was of a man from Durban who had previ- non-severe patients, severe patients were sig-
ously travelled to Italy. The number rose with nificantly older (median age, 61 years: 53 years)
time as people continued to move around prov- and patients that suffered the most with COV-
inces. This resonates with the assertion of Hal- ID-19 were patients that had chronic diseases
perin (2020) that coronavirus is transmitted from such as, hypertension, diabetes and chronic
human to human. By the end of March 2020, obstructive pulmonary disease. The severe pa-
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a national tients were significantly more likely to have con-
lockdown as way of addressing the spread of comitant hypertension and cardiovascular dis-
the virus. eases. Importantly, the most common symptoms
were fever, shortness of breath, expectoration,
Immunopathology of COVID-19 fatigue, dry cough, and myalgia. Moreover, se-
vere patients were significantly more likely to
The SARS-CoV-2 ground zero of infection is have short of breath and fatigue (Ophir and Jamie-
unidentified and the pathogenesis of COVID-19 son 2020). By October 2020 since the first dis-
is still under investigation. Generally COVID-19 covery of the outbreak in the African region, the
affects only the lungs for it is mainly a respirato- majority of the deaths were reported from South
ry disease. The principal way of contamination Africa (18 656), Algeria with (1 873), Ethiopia (1
is human-to-human transmission due to close 371), Nigeria (1 125), Kenya (842), Cameroon
contact, which transpires through spewing drop- (425), Zambia (346), Senegal (320), Ghana (310),
lets from infected people during coughing or Democratic Republic of the Congo (303) and
sneezing. COVID-19 has a probable asymptom- Angola (251) (Ophir and Jamieson 2020).
atic incubation period between 2 and 14 days Globally, the numbers of coronavirus disease
during which the virus can be transmitted (WHO 2019 (COVID-19) cases soared above a million
2020). For this reason, the rapid spread of SARS- with the African Region registering 1,262,476
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)82 LUNGISANI MOYO AND OLUYINKA O. OSUNKUNLE
confirmed cases and 28,601 deaths (WHO 2020). ic events. In this regard, it becomes critical that
The period between 14th and 21st October 2020, a lenses be widened and focused on how disaster
total of 29,919 new confirmed COVID-19 cases information is disseminated during crisis
and 474 new deaths were reported from 46 coun- (Petropoulos and Makridakis 2020).
tries, compared to 30,145 cases and 747 deaths Concerning the COVID-19 pandemic empha-
registered during the period between 7th and 13th sises was on the behavioural, psychological and
October 2020) (Nhamo et al. 2020). However, social aspects of disaster response, the socio-
South Africa sat at the top of COVID-19 cases logical and behavioural underpinnings of such
and mortalities, thus the researcher was prompt- phenomena as emergency response, disaster
ed to explore the undercurrents to this so as to communication and community behaviour. In
gain a deeper understanding and probably sug- South Africa, disaster management is defined by
gest future intervention strategies for dealing the Disaster Management Act No. 57 of 2002 as a
with disaster situations (Lone and Ahmad 2020; continuous and integrated multi-sectoral. Vermaak
Nhamo et al. 2020). and Van Niekerk (2004) assert that it is a multidis-
ciplinary process of planning and implementa-
Conceptual Framework tion of measures aimed at the following:
Prevention or reduction of the risk of di-
Disaster Management sasters
Mitigation of the severity or consequenc-
South Africa shifted from civil protection to es of disasters
disaster risk management after the realisation Emergency preparedness
that the management of disaster risk is para- A rapid and effective response to disas-
mount to reducing vulnerability of communities ters
most at risk to disasters (Vermaak and Van Niekerk Post-disaster recovery and rehabilitation
2004). South Africa has never experienced natu- This paper sought to explore the dissemina-
ral disasters such as earthquakes, tsunamis, hur- tion of COVID-19 related information in South
ricanes, cyclones and so on. However, there have Africa in order to establish the reasons behind
been incidents of veld fires, civil conflicts and the problem of non-adherence to the COVID-19
flooding in Limpopo and KwaZulu Natal prov- lockdown preventive measures. South Africa’s
inces, which resulted in the establishment of the national COVID-19 response comprised of eight
disaster management philosophy (Vermaak and overlapping stages. The first stage focused on
Van Niekerk 2004). Constantly, these crises have preparing for COVID-19, including establishing
received so much coverage in the media, gov- testing capacity. Stage 2 commenced when there
ernmental subunits and among a variety of non- were 51 cases, 10 days after the first South Afri-
governmental organisations. Understandably, can patient was diagnosed. The government
the increased media coverage is meant to em- declared COVID-19 a national disaster, banning
phasise disaster and crisis response mechanisms international travel, closing schools, restricting
and of course, planning (Shao and Hao 2020). gatherings, and promoting social distancing and
Scholars have written on diverse disasters, how- hand hygiene. A national command centre with
ever most of them have been contextually driv- a high-level advisory committee of 51 clinicians,
en, addressing crises as they occur, thus one virologists, epidemiologists, mathematical mod-
has so much research output on various crisis. ellers, public health practitioners, and other ex-
Despite the distinctions of these natural disas- perts is providing strategic advice to the Minis-
ters, Sementelli (2007) asserts that the underly- ter of Health and establishing evidence-based
ing theories and heuristics used are remarkably policy guidance (Karim 2020).
similar. Nonetheless, little attention has been The country moved to Stage 3 national lock-
directed to how one broadly understands, ad- down, which was a bit eased because the total
dresses, and responds to disaster, especially lockdown resulted in significant economic ad-
when one moves from developmental discours- versity, particularly among poor and vulnerable
es of standard operational procedures, policies people. In Stage 4, the government employed
and the routinized responses to such catastroph- community health workers to assist with case
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SOUTH AFRICA 83
identifications. It was easier for South Africa to ing around the area of Scenery Park. Consider-
identify the at-risk population for there is a data- ing the COVID-19 circumstances, 30 participants
base of those with core morbidities (Karim 2020). (10 from each town) were purposively chosen
According to Karim (2020), Stage 5 involved based on the fact that they reside within the
singling out of hotspots and implementation of study areas. Besides being purposefully cho-
prevention measures in areas with localised out- sen, their availability and convenience were con-
breaks. Stage 6 focused on the provision of med- sidered. The authors also utilised the snow ball-
ical care, including constructing field hospitals ing sampling technique for the face-to-face in-
and some in convention centres. Stage 7 in- terviews with community leaders to capture the
volved preparing for deaths, burials, and the voice of the custodians of the area.
mental health challenges associated with be- Thematic analysis was used in this study
reavement. The final stage focuses on staying and data was coded, categorised and themes
vigilant by engaging in case-finding activities were developed based on the sentiments of the
and monitoring population immunity levels us- participants concerning COVID-19 in South Af-
ing sero-surveys in preparation for subsequent rica. Interpretative analysis was also used
epidemic waves (Karim 2020). through description of the characteristics, pro-
However, many people were adamant to wear cesses, transactions, and context that consti-
masks and even with the use of sanitizers. Peo- tute the phenomena being studied, couched in
ple in risk situations commonly seek confirma- language not alien to the phenomenon, as well
tion of the threat situation before yielding to as the researchers’ role in constructing this de-
advice. As such, the dissemination of disaster scription. Thematic analysis was used because
information should consider social and economic of its flexibility and ability to assist in develop-
dynamics of the most vulnerable populations. ing well-structured themes.
In Africa, the hunger pandemic has been and
remains a tall order for most families, thus regu- RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
lation adherence was not exclusively observed
in some segments of the population. The findings of this paper revealed that, four
vital lessons stand out as follows:
METHODOLOGY 1. Failures to learn from the experiences of
countries in which the COVID-19 pandem-
The paper adopted a qualitative research ic was discovered first.
strategy to conduct a fieldwork in the locations 2. Inadequate dissemination of information.
of Scenery Park Phase 1 and 2 in Buffalo City 3. Polarised coverage
Metropolitan Municipality, King Williams Town 4. The combination of maladministration
CBD, and Alice Town CBD in the Eastern Cape and corruption, long-term factors beyond
Province, South Africa to understand the con- individual control.
text or setting of the participants by visiting their These drawbacks range across individual,
context and gathering information personally. organisational and inter-sectoral risk factors.
Exploratory and descriptive approaches were Participants pinpointed at the polarised report-
used in this study. Exploratory approach was ing culture in which the background to disaster
chosen due to its ability to explore an area where and emergency management was ignored, while
little is known (Turner et al. 2017) while descrip- focusing on just the events and their aftermath.
tive approach was chosen to describe the par-
ticipants’ perspectives on COVID-19 and the Failure to Learn from the Experiences of
dissemination of information in the locations of Countries Where the COVID-19
South Africa (Creswell 2016). Data collection was Pandemic Started
cross-sectional as information was gathered
once. The authors managed to conduct face-to- Citizens in the high density suburbs of Scen-
face interviews with community members and ery Park, King Williams Town CBD, and Alice
leaders, and at the same time the authors also Town CBD were interviewed about their percep-
utilised observation methods, as they were mov- tion of the Eastern Cape Provincial government’s
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)84 LUNGISANI MOYO AND OLUYINKA O. OSUNKUNLE
communication before and during the COVID- The other community leader from King Will-
19 lockdown to which they were adamant that iams Town CBD also said:
the current disaster and emergency planners “There is evidence that most of the inter-
failed to learn from the countries that were hit ventions being implemented to contain the coro-
first by the COVID-19 pandemic. Notably, one navirus are driven from China where this virus
of the community members from Scenery Park was first discovered, but it is shocking that our
said: leaders could not act swiftly in communicating
“Generally, the communication was not ex- the risks about coronavirus. China is a huge na-
haustive, everything was done hastily. Televi- tion, yet they were able to contain the virus effec-
sions and other mediums of communication tively according to their reports. Clearly, our front
were flooded with cases and mortalities and runners in leadership did not gather enough in-
that was too much for people to handle. Some formation about this health challenge.”
stopped following because the information cre- While another community member from King
ated a lot of anxiety and fear.” Williams Town CBD said:
Another community leader also from Scen- “I hold the view that the information we got
ery Park mentioned the following: was somewhat fragmented, as such people
struggled to understand what they were fight-
“There is a lot that I as a leader have failed
ing, which probably led to non-adherence to
to understand about the COVID-19 pandemic. lockdown measures.”
At some point there were reports that the dis- The findings from the interviews indicate that
ease was not airborne, but later on that narra- risk communication process adopted by the East-
tive changed. Our people failed to deal with ern Cape Provincial government was not prop-
the myths and misconceptions around the epi- erly grounded, as the messages about the COV-
demic. In summary, I can say that the govern- ID-19 pandemic were received with doubt and
ment did little about informing people about scepticism. These findings are contrary those
the risks that are involved when dealing with of Halperin (2020) who emphasised that it is per-
the virus, as such adherence to lockdown regu- tinent to design risk and disaster communica-
lations was problematic in locations such as tion strategies that are applicable to the target-
Scenery Park where we find a mixture of ed audience. Hence, Hart et al. (2020) noted that
planned and informal settlements.” there are merits associated with learning from
Another community member from Alice Town past pitfalls. This, Reynolds and Seeger (2005)
CBD expressed displeasure with the Eastern postulated, is due to the face that coronavirus
Cape Provincial risk and disaster communica- was discovered in China. However, China had
tion stance and revealed the following: experience of similar outbreaks such as the
“Here in the locations, we feel neglected in MERS and SARS, thus they were to some extent
so many aspects of life and the same is happen- able to deal with the ordeals of coronavirus. As
ing even now when there is this health chal- a result, risk communication is vital to the over-
lenge of COVID-19. Not all of us have access to all public response in case of anticipated danger
televisions and social media, yet in this era much or disaster. Complacency and procrastination
of the communication is happening through remains one of the challenges in instituting ro-
those mediums. Our leaders did not consider such bust disaster response (Ophir and Jamieson
dynamics, and hence we had cases of people who 2020). In addition, Drabek (2010) points out that
insisted about viewing their deceased family in their analysis of people’s response to warn-
member who succumbed to COVID-19. People ings about bushfires in Australia. Drabek (2010)
thought it was a myth that the body of person articulates that people tend to down play risk
who died of coronavirus should not be viewed especially when they have to meet certain ends
as such there are people who subsequently con- of their livelihood.
tracted the virus and even died after viewing
bodies of COVID-19 victims. This is something Inadequate Dissemination of Information
that is avoidable had there been proper educa-
tion and effective communication on the risks The findings point to fragmented dissemi-
and dangers associated with the coronavirus.” nation of information regarding the COVID-19
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SOUTH AFRICA 85
pandemic. One of the participants, a community adherence to lock down regulations. The dis-
leader from King Williams Town CBD shared the seminated information generated multiple inter-
following view: pretations from the public. Participants revealed
“The disease remains a mystery to most peo- that they have been served with inadequate in-
ple here in locations. The vehicles that circu- formation concerning the coronavirus. In addi-
lated with a loud hailer were moving so fast tion, they have struggled to strike a balance be-
that we could hardly get their message. It seems tween the truth and fake news about the disease.
like they were doing it as a formality, and not Hence, Shao and Hao (2020) outline the chal-
necessarily to inform the people. Considering lenges of inadequate risk communication, espe-
the seriousness of this pandemic, I believe they cially in highly polarised environments. This agrees
could have done better in terms of information with Mejova and Kalimeri (2020) who also elabo-
distribution.” rated on the challenges experienced when com-
Another community leader in Scenery Park peting facts are released to the audience. The mass
revealed the following sentiments concerning will respond haphazardly because they would have
the dissemination of information about COVID- received varying information. In this context, risk
19: communication about coronavirus was marred with
“Though it has been said that the coronavi- inconsistency, thus it promulgated public non-ad-
rus is more deadly on people with underlying herence to lock down conditions.
ailments, it does not mean the youth cannot
succumb to it. It is a fact, but this has been Polarised Coverage
interpreted wrongly by the youth who think
they are not susceptible to coronavirus such The findings further point to polarised cov-
that they do not wear a mask consistently, thus erage of the pandemic whereby the media plat-
increasing the chances of new cases.” forms predominantly reported new cases and
This resonates with another community mem- deaths, which created anxiety and panic. One of
ber’s view from Alice Town CBD that: the leaders in Scenery Park Phase 2 highlighted
“The youth are the main culprits in the the following when she was asked to share her
spread of this coronavirus, they do not wear sentiments on the coverage of the pandemic.
masks and they are always on the streets mov- “The coverage of the pandemic was some-
ing up and down. They may not fall sick, but what asymmetrical, as focus was more on the
they may carry it and give the virus to their number of cases while neglecting the recover-
grandmothers. (Bayazulazula apa elocation)” ies and preventive measures. This made most
Another participant from Scenery Park shared people paranoid and they could not cope. Their
the following: survival instincts pushed many into denial of
“The mainstream media has at several oc- the risk, thus there was non-adherence in the
casions published contradicting facts about location, especially after level 5 of the lock-
coronavirus, for example the mode of transmis- down.”
sion was said to be contact based, but it turned Community members were asked about how
out that the virus can remain in air after an COVID-19 was covered and addressed in media
infected person sneezes. Communication should and strategies implemented by the Eastern Cape
be straightforward and easy to follow, but the Provincial and one of them from Alice Town CBD
reporting about the coronavirus has been ran- shared the following:
dom with often contradicting facts, thus leav- “Now when I look at the statistics I see that
ing room for the public to interpret the infor- many people recovered from the coronavirus
mation in multiple perspectives. This increased compared to those who died, however, recover-
the likelihood of people breaking the lock down ies were covered in passing. Hence I can say
rules.” lack of support and too much emphasis on death
Evidence from the interviews points at the could be the reason why many people died.
manner in which the Eastern Cape Provincial Remember, the victims had little or no access to
government of South Africa’s risk and disaster their relatives, and as a result many could not
communication as the root cause to public non- cope with the ordeal.”
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)86 LUNGISANI MOYO AND OLUYINKA O. OSUNKUNLE
The other community member from King “The leadership prioritised other things at
Williams Town CBD also said: the expense of people’s lives. For instance, there
Risk communication is essential, but if it is were cases of bogus activities that the leader-
not executed properly, it may not achieve the ship did during this pandemic, and the Person-
intended objective. Regarding the coronavirus, al Protective Equipment (PPE) tendering pro-
much emphasis was on death and I think that is cesses were marred with corruption. To most of
when everything lost momentum. Some people us, COVID-19 was a public health threat, but
thought coronavirus was a death sentence, yet to some it was an opportunity to make money.”
there are so many cases of people who recov- A community member from Alice Town CBD
ered, which were not reported. Risk communi- also said:
cation strategy that was utilised by officials “The messages about the risks associated
lacked balance.” with the coronavirus reached our neighbour-
These findings are in line with the arguments hood. However there was lack of coordination
of Shao and Hao (2020) who asserted the impact in the manner in which the information was
of polarised coverage of disaster to the overall disseminated. For example there were people
public response. Risk communication about the from the government who were here conscien-
coronavirus has been grossly linked to geopol- tising the masses about the virus and there were
itics and economic strands, whereby narratives NGOs, which were here talking about coro-
emerged on social media citing the coronavirus navirus. It was good, but I do not know if the
as a bioweapon meant to weaken other nations efforts were coordinated because some areas
and create a shift in global economic. A decep- were not reached, yet here in the central busi-
tive narrative is the end result of such polarised ness district we got two similar campaigns.”
reporting. Hart et al. (2020) also asserted on how While another leader from King Williams
imbalanced and polarised coverage may distort Town CBD noted:
intervention strategies, as the audience are like- “Communication about the coronavirus
ly to follow messages that resonate with their could have been better had the process been
survival instinct. In low and middle-income coun- well coordinated. Some of the people who were
try, people are faced by the hunger pandemic, involved in information dissemination were
thus adhering to lock down was not fashionable doing it for money rather than the core pur-
for most people in South Africa, as they con- pose of informing and education. This distort-
stantly struggle to meet their basic needs. ed the communication and could be the reason
for public’s non-adherence. Different narratives
Inadequate National Disaster and Emergency were released to the people and it was up to the
Response Coordination masses to decide on what worked best for them,
so coordination was problematic.”
The findings also indicate that the public The findings also reveal that coronavirus risk
were unprepared for the coronavirus pandemic communication was poorly coordinated and
and coordination of the disaster response inter- there were cases of funds embezzlement. Partic-
ventions was poor. One of the participants from ipants expressed concerns about the lack of
Scenery Park shared the following sentiments accountability in the response mechanisms. Me-
concerning disaster response administration. jova and Kalimeri (2020) explained that the suc-
“Initially there were few cases of COVID- cess of any intervention is based on the level of
19 in Eastern Cape, but due to poor manage- commitment and accountability that managers
and administrators put in dealing with life threat-
ment and coordination, people from hot spot
ening circumstances. Nhamo et al. (2020) elu-
provinces relocated to Eastern Cape, and as sively expounded on the impact of COVID-19
such the virus spread fast and the Province was on strategic sector of development, particularly
not fully prepared. Risk communication strate- with regard to Sustainable Development Goals.
gies had glitches.” The authors further point out corruption as an
The other leader from Scenery Park revealed underlying factor to failure of COVID-19 inter-
the following: ventions. Lundgren and McMakin (2013) high-
J Hum Ecol, 73(1-3): 77-88 (2021)COVID-19 PANDEMIC IN SOUTH AFRICA 87
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