'Closing the gate' on rural communities: health care during COVID-19

Abstract

Over the past six months, many have seen the COVID-19 crisis through a metropolitan lens. In the rural Eastern Cape, communities say that the government 'closed the gate' (ukuvala isango) when COVID-19 came and left them to struggle in the dark. The article is based on the findings of a rural research project, undertaken by the HSRC in association with Walter Sisulu University, that looked into the impact of the lockdown on rural communities in the Eastern Cape.