Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• Dlamini, Nomcebo
• Matsea, Thabisa
• Noyoo, Ndangwa
• Kleibl, Tanja
• Lutz, Ronald
• Gonçalves, Maria do Carmo dos Santos
• Twikirize, Janestic
• Gutwald, Rebecca

Titel

Analysing the Situation of Migrants and Social Work Interventions in South Africa During the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic

Ist Teil von

• The Coronavirus Crisis and Challenges to Social Development, 2022, p.143-152

Ort / Verlag

Switzerland: Springer International Publishing AG

Erscheinungsjahr

2022

Quelle

Alma/SFX Local Collection

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) across the globe disrupted the daily activities of all countries and plunged them into states of emergency as they instituted measures to curb its spread. Countries were forced to make the difficult choice of either protecting their economies or keeping their citizens alive. As the virus spread, most countries, including South Africa, opted to effect national lockdowns that were characterised by curfews which restricted people’s movements to disrupt the spread of the virus. The lockdown caused many people to lose their livelihoods and many businesses in South Africa closed down. To mitigate the harsh socioeconomic effects of the pandemic, the government instituted a host of social protection and economic relief measures to safeguard vulnerable citizens and fledgling small businesses. It is important to note that the enforced mandatory lockdown has disproportionately negatively impacted vulnerable populations, for example, migrants. Because migrants meet their daily needs by participating in the informal sector, which requires daily travel and human contact, their livelihoods were severely eroded during the national lockdown. As many migrants are not South African citizens or permanent residents, they do not qualify for some of the new social assistance measures that were introduced by the government to alleviate the negative socioeconomic effects of the pandemic. In these extremely challenging and perilous times, it is important that we ascertain how social workers are helping vulnerable populations, such as migrants, to survive during the pandemic. This chapter analyses the situation of migrants and social work interventions during this crisis. It argues that social workers should focus on upholding migrants’ human rights and aim to build their resilience as a way of helping them integrate more easily into the South African society. To do this, the chapter proposes that social workers need to be adept in indigenous social work practice.