26 March 2020

Thursday · one day before lockdown

In light of the impending national lockdown, President Ramaphosa called for a National Day of Prayer to be observed in the country. Further details regarding the lockdown also emerged, and these included the total ban of alcohol sales and the prohibition of exercise outside of homes. Thousands of South Africans attempted to leave cities in order to spend the lockdown with family and friends in rural areas. Once the lockdown commenced, public transport would be allowed to operate from 5:00 am to 9:00 am and from 4:00 pm to 8:00 am, and only to transport essential workers.

Today at midnight the lockdown starts in South Africa. My brother and I had to drive back to Cape Town to return our rental car. We didn’t realise that even the airport would close starting from 27 March. We arrived just in time before the rental car return closed and took an Uber back to our house in Cape Town. We have no groceries and no clean washing left […]. I start biting my nails when I’m nervous and today my teeth are sore from the biting. This whole situation has escalated very quickly.

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The number of confirmed Covid-19 cases is increasing rapidly. I suspect that the virus is already in rural areas and informal settlements, but we just don’t have the infrastructure to test everyone. My friend and I called her mother in East London two days ago and she had no idea about the lockdown. When we got her up to speed, she denied the seriousness of the situation, saying that no soldier can stop her going about her daily life. This is the mindset of many people living in the townships: it’s a white person’s disease so it can’t be that serious for us. Also, what becomes of the people who don’t watch the news on TV and have no internet access? What becomes of the homeless?

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I went to the shops today to buy some tea ( just tea, because I had run out). The shops were an absolute nightmare and it made me question whether the people of South Africa are really capable of complying with the rules of the lockdown. A lady in front of me bought 15 blocks of cheese, another quite literally ran past me, while yet another was stocking up on bread like there is no tomorrow … and all this when the president explicitly called on people to stop panic buy. A lot of people are trying to find loopholes to this lockdown. My thinking is that if people cannot work together for these three weeks, the lockdown will have to be extended.

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A fellow work colleague (I am a part-time waiter at Eike Restaurant) is currently completing her Master’s degree in Neuroscience at Stellenbosch University. While she is loving the lockdown and the time she now has to spend with family, she is weary about the effect this situation will have on her career and that of many others. Her laboratory work for the past two months has had to be scrapped as a result of the lockdown, which means that as soon as the lockdown ends, she will need to work non-stop for the remainder of the year to complete her data work.

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Today I woke up at 10:00 am. I received a bank notification to say that my R6 000 allowance had arrived in my bank account. I was pretty happy and had a little motivation within myself. I went to Spar to do grocery shopping but when I got to Spar, I did not find what I really wanted so I went to Checkers instead. I wanted to buy canned fish, canned beef, All Bran, corn, 6 x 2l milk cartons and 10kg of rice. I thought that maybe this food could last me through the 21 days of lockdown. It was worth R1 300 in the end.

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This morning at 1:30 am I was still awake. My mother texted on our family group that they are moving her to ICU. I replied to her message to calm her down, but I knew that she would not be able to answer. After about half an hour I fell asleep. The next morning my father explained to me that they moved her so that they could check on her oxygen levels at all times. At 10:13 am my mother sent a voice note. In her voice you could hear all her fears. She urged us to clean the house and not to underestimate the virus. After that I sent a voice note to my mother praying for her and telling her not to be scared. At 2:00 pm my father and I decided to exercise. We had so much fun. I could feel the strain on my body because I have not exercised in a week. While my father and I were cooling down from our exercise my mother sent another voice note. She sounded happy, positive and ready to fight this battle. She said: “I hope you are all exercising because when I come out of here, I will come out running. I am ready to lead a healthy and fit life. There are so many adventures I still want to go on with you all.”

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LOCKDOWN AS OF 00:00 am. The day that everyone has been preparing for has arrived. The panic buying is at an all-time high and what is rather humorous is seeing the long queues outside of liquor stores. Under the lockdown regulations, liquor stores will also be shut down and people seem to be very worried that they won’t have access to alcohol. I should admit that my boyfriend and I joined this trend and did our time standing in these queues. I heard the owner of the particular bottle store we were queuing at speaking to another customer. He said it was like double Christmas at the moment – which probably means he’ll be financially alright during the lockdown. […]

Our final ‘pre-lockdown’ plans are to get some KFC later this afternoon and to go for a coastal drive.

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There seems to be a dystopic fog or gloom that hangs all around. The shops are already closed, there is no one frolicking in the bays, the roads are quiet, the land seems still.

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It is the last day before lockdown starts. To obviously over exaggerate, I feel like an inmate just before death row. I know that the lockdown is not supposed to be that bad, but three weeks is a long time to stare at the same four faces every day. I checked in on all my friends and family to make sure everyone has a plan for lockdown and that no one will be left stranded at midnight. My cousin lives alone in Wellington, but luckily he could arrange with his firm to go home to Upington before lockdown starts. Everyone is doing his or her last bits of shopping. We refilled all our water bottles and made sure we have enough alcohol to last us for three weeks. We also stocked up on enough vitamins and immune boosters to last us the lockdown period. I went for a jog outside for what might be the last time in 21 days.