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According to its mayor, almost a million people in Johannesburg, the commercial center of South Africa, need food aid due to movement restrictions imposed to curb the coronavirus pandemic.
Although South Africa has fewer than 9,000 infections, it remains one of the highest numbers on the continent.
The government imposed a lockout in late March that closed schools and businesses and only allowed essential workers to leave their homes.
Today, around 300,000 households in Johannesburg require food assistance, Mayor Geoff Makhubo said in an interview.
“As more and more people become unemployed, the incidences of poverty and food insecurity begin to increase,” Makhubo said by phone. “Social anguish is a real thing.”
Even before the measures, 45% of the city’s 5.5 million residents lived in poverty and 20% were food insecure, he said.
The city of Johannesburg is planning food support for vulnerable households and will use the data from the national social security agency along with its own to search for those not in the social assistance system, he said.
Millionaires in dollars
National short-term relief measures, including an additional R50 billion in welfare subsidies for the poor and unemployed, are helping the city’s efforts.
Inequality abounds in Johannesburg, which is home to thousands of undocumented immigrants, as well as $ 19,000 millionaires who represent almost half of the country’s high-income people.
Executive directors and top lawyers earn up to R20 million ($ 1.1 million) a year, while the official minimum wage is just over R20 ($ 1.08) per hour.
The blockade, although eased slightly on May 1, is likely to exacerbate that inequality.
The country’s largest business group, Business for South Africa, earlier this week urged the government to speed up the restart of the economy to minimize hardship, hunger and despair.
“If there is going to be unemployment, here in Johannesburg we will be the most affected,” Makhubo said. “If people start fighting in other provinces, they will move to Johannesburg thinking there is an opportunity.”
The city is reviewing its spending plans after revenue fell by RAND 800 million in April due to reduced economic activity, he said. Electricity sales to the commercial and heavy-duty industries are the biggest contributors to collections, Makhubo said.
He also expects his R1 billion share of the national fuel tax subsidy, which is calculated based on the use of fuel in the city, to be “greatly reduced,” he said.
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