Saving Livelihoods while Saving Lives: Insights from the SARChI Seminar Series on Rural Livelihoods in the Shadow of COVID-19

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By Professor Betty Mubangizi

As the COVID-19 pandemic and government’s response to it continue to evolve, there are stories of both excellence and failure in terms of how South Africans’ livelihood resources and activities have been affected. Rural livelihoods, in particular, have always been fragile, marked by challenges associated with colonialism and apartheid, poor infrastructure, poorly resourced municipalities and the adverse effects of climate change.

Acutely aware of these challenges, the National Research Foundation/ South African Research Chairs Initiative (NRF/SARChI) Chair in Sustainable Local (Rural) Livelihoods organised a series of Zoom seminars to explore with rural community members, civil society and local government officials how to conserve livelihoods while ensuring the safety of community members during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. The seminars focused on rural based local municipalities with most insights drawn from practitioners in Matatiele and Mbizana local municipalities in the Eastern Cape, where the Chair has been active in research and community support activities.

Hosted by myself as Chair between April and May 2020, panellists included Ms Sissie Matela and Ms Nicky McLead of Environmental and Rural Solutions (ERS); Mr Rekgotsofetse Mohlauli, a Matatiele youth; Amohelang Sibi of the Sibi Royal Household; Mr Momelezi Mbedla, the Mayor of Matatiele Local Municipality; Mr Mzobanzi Sineke, a UKZN PhD candidate and former head of Risk Services at Umzimvubu Municipality; Mr Mkhuseli Qumba, a master’s student and Councillor in Mbizana Local Municipality; and Mr Luvuyo Mahlaka, the Municipal Manager of Mbizana Local Municipality. Academics and non-academics from South Africa and several other African countries also participated.

The panellists were of the view that conversations should be framed in terms of building rural livelihoods rather than restoring livelihoods, because rural livelihoods were never in an ideal state prior to COVID-19. Among the challenges highlighted were severe food insecurity and scarcity of livestock feed due to drought and the lockdown regulations affecting the main livelihood activities in the area, which are tied to land and agriculture. Poor human capital development and a lack of higher institutions of learning in the Matatiele area to offer degree programmes relevant to local livelihoods or which encourage young people to protect local resources and maximise them for sustainable livelihoods, are also major challenges.

Rural communities are further exploited by urban and industrial areas which treat them as dumping sites for environmentally unfriendly waste. They experience persistent urban migration that reduces human resources, weak civil society structures, and local governments that were not equipped or prepared to respond to the pandemic, resulting in sporadic assistance and deepening social and economic inequalities.

The seminars also revealed that local wisdom and indigenous knowledge have been generally overlooked in policymaking and implementation, and traditional authorities were not involved in lockdown regulations or given resources to support communities during the lockdown. Misinformation, slow and generally poor communication channels on how to access relief funds and food parcels as well as stigmatisation and violence towards those branded as infected, are among the challenges that rural populations are currently struggling with. Others include a lack of water resources considering the safety requirements to frequently wash hands, lack of transportation and access to markets for locally produced goods, and the heavy-handedness of law enforcement personnel who assume that rural people understand the lockdown regulations.

However, the seminars also highlighted pockets of excellence. For example, collaboration and mutual support thrived among civil society organisations, religious groups, local businesses, local authorities and within communities. Considerable efforts were made by municipal authorities to deliver basic services such as water to some rural communities during the lockdown; traditional authorities have been assisting with funerals and issuing of permits; local radio stations and loud hailing are being utilised by local municipalities to ensure that relevant information reaches a wider rural population; and communities harness effective strategies drawn from their experiences of past challenges to support themselves during the pandemic. Furthermore, some level of local economic rebirth has been observed as people are increasingly thinking and acting local – including the emerging economic value, in the Mbizana area, of the herb umhlonyane (Artemisa afra) due to its suggested effectiveness as a cure for COVID-19.

The panellists and participants also offered several recommendations to build sustainable rural livelihoods and resilience now and beyond the pandemic. Capacity building through youth programmes in local resource utilisation was one proposal – ‘there is a need to reeducate ourselves to harness these resources that are here and stop promoting western ideals of what education and resourcefulness is,’ says Matela. Young people who have education opportunities should also be encouraged to pursue fields that will equip them to return and utilise rich locally available resources to build their communities.

Panelists argued that adopting a bottom-up approach which integrates traditional leadership in policy processes will produce more locally relevant solutions that take into account indigenous knowledge systems and resources. They also encouraged the buying of locally produced goods; more collaboration across public, civic and private sectors and entities; dissemination of information that is more attuned to the rural population and in languages they understand; further exploration of traditional means of communication and fostering community rangeland stewardship, among other things.

I am grateful to all the panelists and participants. I also acknowledge the contribution of my Postdoctoral Fellows, Drs Leonard Chitongo and Sokfa John, with whom I will continue to seek ways to engage rural communities, local authorities and the broader society on how to save livelihoods while saving lives. By bringing rural-based practitioners, councillors, local authorities and the academic community together the Chair is creating a platform to bridge the gap between theory and practice.

Professor Betty C Mubangizi is the NRF/SARChI Chair for Sustainable Rural Livelihoods in the School of Management, Information Technology and Governance at UKZN.

Photograph: Supplied