IntroductionFootnote1
Why an interdisciplinary “science” approach is crucial?: Positioning Sociology and the Social Sciences centrally in dealing with national (and global) disasters of Homelessness and COVID-19 specifically
The first case of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in South Africa was confirmed on 5 March 2020, and after two weeks of deliberation, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a restrictive 21-day hard national lockdown to limit all but essential movement and human contact, commencing on 27 March 2020. Globally, governments were quick to emphasise that they were “following the science” in designing their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, as Runciman et al. (in this issue) argue:
… the “science”, whether in South Africa or internationally, largely meant the relative exclusion of the social sciences from informing government responses to the pandemic.
Interestingly, however (also cited in Runciman et al., this volume), nearly two months after the virus was discovered in South Africa, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) released a progressive and internationally far-sighted statement with reference to COVID-19—advocating for the urgent inclusion of the social sciences into public debates and government policy formulation bodies:
We believe that the pandemic is not simply a medical problem but a social problem as well. This means that social scientists and humanities scholars should also form part of these advisory structures … Psychologists need to advise on the far-reaching mental health costs of the pandemic following extreme forms of isolation. Sociologists need to advise on the efficacy of social distancing in human settlements marked by inequality. Anthropologists need to advise on meaningful rituals of mourning when numbers are restricted for funeral attendance and family members cannot touch loved ones in their final moments. Economists must advise on how to enfranchise workers such as the self-employed. (ASSAf 2020, “Public statement on COVID-19”, https://www.assaf.org.za/index.php/news/626-public-statement-on-COVID1)
The two SARS Special Issues were planned for Vol 51 Issues 3 and 4, respectively. But in disastrous ways too, the COVID-19 pandemic began to impact on our SARS journal itself. A year later (by June 2021), all four members of the SARS Editorial Collective had stepped down for various reasons, including experiencing massive work/personal/psychological stresses due to COVID-19. Moreover, in 2021 the SASA Council resolved to have the annual congress held virtually for the first time in nearly 100 years. It was in this congress that a new Editorial Collective (Professor Cooper, Dr Xulu-Gama and Dr Nyawasha) was appointed. This group of three soon had to confront the reality of working under COVID-19 pandemic challenges. The biggest challenge remains finding willing reviewers and the time they could take to review a manuscript.
Despite these challenges, we are proud to report that at the beginning of 2022 we can now publish—online and in print version—a combined Vol 51 Issue 3 and 4 with a total of 11 articles, on “Homelessness” (8 articles) and “COVID-19” (3 articles). These articles are all linked to the vital sociological and social science issues of Lives and Livelihoods that have recently confronted the working people of Southern Africa, and globally too. Moreover, we are just as pleased to report that in February 2022 too, the next Vol 52(1) will appear online and in print—with at least five valuable new sociological articles on pertinent current issues linked to the immensely difficult challenges of poverty and neo-colonial “development” (including global vaccine nationalism) impacting on South Africa and our African continent.
HomelessnessFootnote2
Pathways out of homelessness: policy, processes and practices in the City of Tshwane
Since 2015, scholars, practitioners, activists and homeless persons came together in the City of Tshwane to reflect on sustainable ways out of homelessness. This approach brought together key components building on our collective expertise to address the realities of homeless persons. Ours remains a research journey characterized by an action-oriented, trans-disciplinary and collaborative methodology.
The first phase of the research within our collective project resulted in the adoption of the Tshwane Homeless Policy and demonstrated the benefits of evidence-based research in policy-making and social interventions. Specific challenges surfaced that were not as acutely imprinted in the minds of those concerned with street homelessness before and are aptly demonstrated, for example, in new responses to the growing reality of older persons becoming homeless. The findings of this first phase of research were published in 2017 in a dedicated issue in Development Southern Africa.Footnote3
The publication and the promise of a Tshwane Homelessness policy led to the second phase of this collective project, entitled “Pathways out of homelessness: going deeper”. This phase was funded by the National Research Foundation and this special issue in the South African Review of Sociology is one of the concrete outcomes of this research phase.
When we contemplated the title of this second phase of research, in 2018–2019, little did we know how deep we would be taken. With the onset of COVID-19 after March 2020, the demands of isolation as a matter of protection were particularly challenging for homeless and other vulnerable populations. The importance of knowledge and experience gained during Phase 1 of our research became underscored, as it helped to address policy issues and mediate effective interventions respecting basic human rights. The research was not only a theoretical or philosophical undertaking, but really a matter of life and death. The COVID-19 pandemic offered an opportunity to go deeper, not only in terms of solidarity and service, but also in terms of the quality of responses to homelessness, the criticality with which we reflect on dominant practices that perpetuate homelessness, and the possibility for new conversations enabling appropriate policies, strategies and funding mechanisms to address homelessness: with City of Tshwane as “a case study”.
An unintended consequence of COVID-19 was how the question of collective safety hinged on that of protecting the most vulnerable against the scourge of COVID-19. The South African Human Rights Commission verbalized its concerns regarding this, and pointed to how authorities in the City of Cape Town were guilty of disregarding the rights of homeless persons. Similarly, the South African Local Government Association (SALGA) made it known during the COVID-19 pandemic that local governments had to develop specific interventions to address homelessness constructively.
In line with the strict national lockdown of March–May 2020 to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, everybody had to be in a confined environment within South Africa. The Gauteng Province, which includes the major urban hubs of the City of Tshwane and the City of Johannesburg and other municipalities adopted a policy on street homelessness. Although this was a historical milestone, the Gauteng Province needed a formal policy to justify any budget expenditure, which was drafted and adopted in record time. Finally, in November 2021, the National Department of Social Development, with the support of the Policy Unit in the National Presidency, hosted the first national roundtable to discuss a national policy on homelessness. The vulnerability of life embodied in street homelessness in an uncanny way needed the fears and dangers of the COVID-19 pandemic with its strict regulations to find recognition in policy.
This SARS 51(3&4) combined “Special Issue” includes a major focus (eight of the articles) on “homelessness”. It evolved from focused research and life on the streets of the City of Tshwane; yet, it firmly believes that the lessons learnt and the experiences gained regarding street homelessness locally can contribute to policy, processes and practices in other cities and contexts as well. The first six articles of this special issue focus on street homelessness in a more general sense, and the following two articles, also with a “homelessness” focus, are written specifically against the backdrop of COVID-19.
Stephan de Beer and Rehana Vally set the tone for this issue with their article, “Fostering pathways out of homelessness: choreographies of change-making in the City of Tshwane”. They described the collaborative processes of finding pathways out of homelessness, in the City of Tshwane, between 2014 and 2020, and suggest the need for “a carefully choreographed approach” that would transcend narrow political party or personal interests. Engaged scholarship as opposed to political interests, they argued, contributes more to critical policy discourse through the notion of “choreographies of change-making”.
Stephan Geyer based his article on qualitative research with 34 older persons across different research sites in the City of Tshwane. His ethnographical data provide insights into patterns of resilience among homeless person aged 55 and older, both male and female. He makes specific recommendations for an integrated social service delivery framework to mitigate the harsh circumstances of homelessness among older persons.
The ideal solution to homelessness is housing. This is the angle that Stephan de Beer used in presenting the case of one local housing organisation in the City of Tshwane and its mother body—a faith-based organisation—describing how it seeks to respond to different faces of homelessness through diversified housing options. De Beer challenged the current dominant discourse among city officials and politicians, which tends to reduce homelessness to a welfare issue, failing to acknowledge its systemic causes.
John Mashayamombe and Rehana Vally examined urban renewal processes in the suburb of Hatfield in Pretoria’s Old East, and how this deviated from the intended aim of providing affordable student housing. Their study demonstrated the contentions and contradictions between investors and student needs, showing that revanchist gentrification left student homelessness to remain as a challenge.
Annali Botha and Solina Richter examined the reporting and portrayal of housing and homelessness, as related to asylum seekers and refugees in two South African newspapers. They used media content analysis to support their arguments, focusing on themes that emerged from these two newspapers such as the reasons for becoming refugees; migrant shelter and housing issues; housing and xenophobia; and the challenges of those involved in housing refugees and asylum seekers.
In their article, Ramadimetja Mogale, Miriam Moagi and Jannie Hugo considered the role of chronic mental illness as a cause of homelessness. They collected data through drawings, sketches and narratives of participants living in a community-based care facility, serving as a “bridge” between the streets or mental health institutions and permanent home. They considered the appropriateness of existing infrastructure for mentally ill homeless persons, recommending ways to scale and replicate good practices, while transforming unutilized or ineffective infrastructure.
Wayne Renkin mapped the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown in the City of Tshwane through the lens of street homelessness. He provided a thick description of what occurred in the city during this time, demonstrating the advantages of collaborative approaches and how this might help break specific cycles of street homelessness.
The experiences of homeless persons in temporary shelters in Tshwane formed the crux of the article written by Onida Venter and Jan Heese. Their study was done during the “hard lockdown” and they described the health encounters and social dynamics of 52 homeless men residing in a temporary COVID-19 shelter in the City of Tshwane during this period. Necessity, they argued, helped to provide comprehensive, tailor-made and on-site clinical care. This led them to maintain that proper health care for homeless persons is possible.
We are grateful to the South African Review of Sociology for granting space for this special issue. We commend the National Research Foundation for supporting the research that culminated in this collection. It is indeed our hope that the reflections and recommendations contained here would go beyond an intellectual contribution only—that it deepens our understanding of homelessness, in order to inform policy, practices and processes at different levels of government, resulting in interventions that break cycles of homelessness for many people, decisively and sustainably.
COVID-19 PANDEMICFootnote4
Social Crisis: a threat to the reproduction of South African society within the global social formation as a whole
As mentioned earlier, the crisis brought on by COVID-19 is not only a health crisis but also a social crisis that threatens the very reproduction of society itself. It requires an appreciation of our past and our social context.
While the world was reeling from the deadly effects of the Coronavirus, several questions arose in the minds of social scientists. What does this pandemic mean to the individual; to human relations; and to communities? What will the economic ordering of society look like post-COVID-19? How will countries around the globe recover from this pandemic? And what will this recovery mean to the broader economic and political economy of disease control and management, especially in poorly resourced economies of the South? Undoubtedly, the pandemic has come with massive disruptions in human, social and economic life. How do we make sense of these disruptions sociologically? Are these disruptions theoretically significant? These are big sociological questions with no single explanation. In this special issue, we present contributions that grapple with these questions and offer incisive sociological insights.
Of all issues that were debated and discussed during the hard lockdown, funeral practices and burial rites stood out. While this scholarship component is not completely new within the social sciences, it is often ignored or taken for granted. One could argue that the implementation of lockdown rules and its impact on ways of being and doing, particularly in perpetuating inequities and further marginalising previously disadvantaged social groups, has brought this issue to the forefront. The article “A State of (Greater) Exception? Funerals, Custom and the ‘War on COVID’ in Rural South Africa”, by Leslie Bank and Nelly Sharpley, is an important contribution to re-centring marginalised voices and practices. This article revisits changing funeral practices and burial rites in the rural Eastern Cape within a historical epoch, weaving it together with narratives from households under the impact of COVID-19, to advance the conversation about maintaining human dignity even in death under the impact of this pandemic.
Kezia Lewins, Tshegofatso Seabi, Lindiwe Seotsanyana, Koketso Maphelela, Tessa Nyirenda and Catherine Benvie’s article reflects on their experience providing voluntary telephonic support to low-income families and residents in Gauteng affected by COVID-19. The article is an autoethnography of the team’s participation in a collaborative exercise in one of Gauteng’s Field Hospitals during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. More central to this reflection is the way the article demonstrates the role and place of applied social sciences and methodologies in responding to human crisis in late modern societies.
Carin Runciman, Stephen Rule, Martin Bekker, Benjamin Roberts, Mark Orkin, Yul Derek Davids, Narnia Bohler-Muller, and Kate Alexander give an overview of a joint project by the University of Johannesburg and the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) with an aptly titled article, “Giving ‘voice’ during the COVID-19 pandemic using online rapid response surveys: Lessons from the UJ/HSRC COVID-19 Democracy Survey”. The authors reflect on the use of rapid response non-probabilistic surveys using a mass membership online data-free platform. Overall, the article provides insights into best practices in online survey research within the context of South Africa, where the digital divide is exceedingly present. The main argument is that online surveys make it feasible to reach the broader public, especially when dealing with time-sensitive issues such as the COVID-19 pandemic, and the authors reflect on the benefits and limitations of using this type of data collection method. Drawing on the data that were collected through the COVID-19 Democracy Survey, the article looks into the public’s responses to the pandemic. In particular, the public’s views on various government pandemic policy decisions, their views on school closures and the reopening of schools during 2020, as well as the extent to which individuals are experiencing pandemic fatigue are all reported on and analysed in this fascinating article.
These contributions in this special edition seek to explore the various ways in which the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the lives of ordinary South Africans. At the same time, it also provides sociological insights into how we can make sense of the impact that the pandemic has had on the ground and how we can respond to it as social researchers.
Notes
1 This Editorial Collective Introduction section is presented by two of our SARS new 3-Editorial Collective— David Cooper (retired, Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town) and Nomkhosi Xulu-Gama (Department of Sociology, University of Cape Town).
2 This Editorial Collective section is presented by the Guest Editors for the Section on “Homelessness” (eight articles) for this SARS 51(3&4) combined Special Issue on Homelessness & COVID, by Stephan De Beer (Centre for Faith and Community, University of Pretoria) and Rehana Ebrahim-Vally (Department of Practical Theology, University of Pretoria).
3 A special edition, titled Pathways out of Homelessness, appeared in Development Southern Africa, 34(4), 2017, subedited by Stephan de Beer and Rehana Vally
4 This Editorial Collective section is presented by the Guest Editors for the Section on “COVID-19” (three articles) for this SARS 51(3&4) combined Special Issue on Homelessness & COVID, by Letitia Smuts (Sociology, University of Johannesburg) and Chinwe Obuaku-Igwe (Sociology, University of the Western Cape, and currently also president of South African Sociological Association, SASA), assisted by an editor of the SARS 3-Editorial Collective, Tawanda Nyawasha (Sociology, University of Limpopo).