Abstract

Many planners and government officials, who have idealized notions of the modern African city, tend to dismiss the continent’s large informal sector as “a chaotic jumble of unproductive activates” that should be removed through punitive policies of forced eviction and repression. This sector supports local livelihoods and income and has helped to alleviate poverty and provide some degree of social protection. Still, the poor workers in the sector are vulnerable to numerous occupational hazards and undue harassment by state officials. COVID-19 illustrates how the traditional stereotypes and prejudice against the informal economy were carried over in the top-down containment measures enforced during the pandemic. These measures caused more harm beyond the health threat and have raised serious human rights concerns. 

The initial information about COVID-19 and the standard advice about its control were based on data from high and middle-income countries.  There was panic that the epidemic would spread very fast and take a heavy toll in Africa because of the general health conditions in the continent, and the limited capacity of the health system.    Unfortunately, the aggressive measures to contain and manage the pandemic in Africa did not sufficiently consider the local cultures and social economy of the region, and therefore affected informal sector workers and informal settlements adversely and disproportionately. Most informal sector workers depend for their daily earnings on constant movement and interaction outside the home – be they street or market traders, cart pushers, waste pickers, cab or motorcycle operators and so on. During the pandemic, they were exposed not only to infections but also to constant harassment by state officials who enforced COVID lockdown and other restrictions on movement. Housing conditions in informal settlements are usually overcrowded, with limited access to water, sanitation and social services needed to comply with COVID protocols for social/physical distancing, hand washing, etc; and structural inequalities in most cities excluded informal sector operators from meaningful participation in the design and implementation of COVID-related policies, or due access to the palliatives provided by government and humanitarian organizations.

With hindsight, it now appears that the official response to the pandemic in Africa was misguided in many respects. Africa accounts for only about 2 percent of global COVID deaths, and many more people died from hunger and damage done by rigid COVID policies. There was widespread distrust among the poor that the top-down COVID policies served the interest of the elite oppressors.  We argue that future government officials and planners who aspire to international standards of modernity and adopt the prescriptions of the global community must learn to strike the right balance between the ideals of international standards and the reality of local conditions and requirements