Abstract
The COVID-19 pandemic caused a significant impact on global public health and the world’s economies. Across the globe, governments imposed mandatory lockdowns as a containment measure against the devastating impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, mandatory lockdowns negatively influenced the lived experiences of the most vulnerable in the cities who depend on the informal sector and are without savings and safety nets. Using Harare, the capital city of Zimbabwe, as a case study, this chapter presents the socioeconomic impacts of COVID-19 mandatory lockdowns on poor urbanites. While the COVID-19 pandemic presents challenges to traditional fieldwork research, we embraced new and agile directions in research methodologies by adopting remote ethnography. We illuminate four significant socioeconomic impacts associated with COVID-19 lockdowns among the urban poor: food security systems of poor urbanites who source their food through the informal economy, closure of the informal sector, induced urban–rural migration, and strengthening of visible urban disparities between the poor and the rich. These socioeconomic impacts are more relatable to aspects of marginalization, continued suffering, urban penalty, and threats to the rights to the city of the urban poor, which is the theoretical framework of the book. The chapter concludes that the COVID-19 pandemic mandatory lockdowns deepened social and spatial inequality among the urban poor, threatening their right to the city. Mandatory lockdowns also upsurged poverty, increased unemployment and the risks of hunger and food insecurity, reinforced existing inequalities, and broke social harmony in the cities, even past the COVID-19 pandemic period.
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Notes
- 1.
COVID-19 lockdown measures refer to a set of restrictions and regulations put in place by governments and health authorities to slow the spread of COVID-19, a highly infectious respiratory illness caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. These measures limit social contact between individuals and reduce the opportunities for the virus to spread from person to person. Lockdown measures can vary depending on the severity of the outbreak and the response of the government in different countries, but some common examples include stay-at-home orders, closure of nonessential businesses, restrictions on travel, limits on public gatherings, and mandatory mask wearing (WHO 2020).
- 2.
Hard-to-reach populations are groups of people who are difficult to engage, access, or reach through traditional methods of communication and outreach. These populations include people who are geographically isolated, are socially marginalized, or have limited access to healthcare, education, or other resources.
- 3.
Digital ethnography (also known as “virtual ethnography,” “cyber ethnography,” “netnography,” or “mobile ethnography”) is a digital transformation of in-person ethnography and a form of online or remote ethnographic research that leverages the power of technology—gadgets and Internet—to help researchers generate rich remotely, contextual insights into the lived experiences of social groups under study (See Hjorth et al. 2017; Varis 2016).
- 4.
Bustop Tv is a youth-run Zimbabwean media house established in 2014. It is known for satirical skits that go viral as they comment on prevailing socioeconomic and political issues affecting society. Bustop Tv has the most creative, talented, and experienced personnel in comedy, journalism, film, and video production. We listened to and followed comments for #BUSTOPTV #BUSTOP Lockdown 21 Days Series Episode.
- 5.
ZimEye is a media house, which specializes in providing intricate, detailed, and analytical news stories on the ground in Zimbabwe. It also covered issues on the plight of Zimbabweans during the COVID-19 crisis.
- 6.
Open Parly Zimbabwe is a leading online media platform covering parliament, politics, press conferences, and the everyday lives of Zimbabwe, focusing on the engagement between decision-makers and citizens for a better society for young Zimbabweans. Open Parly Zimbabwe is among the top media platforms covering COVID-19 issues in Zimbabwe.
- 7.
WhatsApp group discussion with female vendors April 2, 2020.
- 8.
New King James Version Bible, 2 Kings 6:24–33 [24 Now it came about after this, that Ben-hadad king of Aram gathered all his army and went up and besieged Samaria. 25 There was a great famine in Samaria; and behold, they besieged it, until a donkey’s head was sold for eighty shekels of silver, and a fourth of a kab of dove’s dung for five shekels of silver 28 And the king said to her, “What is the matter with you?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give your son that we may eat him today, and we will eat my son tomorrow.’”]
- 9.
Key informant interview with Pastor Maonera in Harare, March 28, 2020.
- 10.
WhatsApp focus group discussion (message posted as voice note) Harare, March 30, 2020.
- 11.
WhatsApp focus group discussion with informal sector participants, Harare, March 30, 2020.
- 12.
Hustling typically refers to a way of making a living by engaging in informal or unregulated economic activities, involving low-paying or menial jobs. These may include street vending, informal labor, or other types of work that are often seen as outside of the formal economy.
- 13.
WhatsApp focus group discussion (message posted as voice note), Harare, April 2020.
- 14.
WhatsApp COVID-19 diary, Harare, July 2021.
- 15.
WhatsApp focus group discussion, 1 April 2020.
- 16.
Social media activist on Twitter.
- 17.
Interview with a leader for a suburb association.
- 18.
Interview in Mabvuku, during participant observations, Harare, June 2020.
- 19.
Interview with Mrs. Romberai in Harare, 1 April 2020.
- 20.
Interview with Clara Zosemesa, COVID-19 dairies in Harare, April 21, 2020.
- 21.
New Zim Tv “We will die of hunger” Despair as Zimbabwe lockdown extended (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rAs-Y3bjr18).
- 22.
WhatsApp focus group discussion, June 2020.
- 23.
WhatsApp focus group discussion with vendors, Harare, June 2020.
- 24.
WhatsApp discussion with youths, Harare, March 2021.
- 25.
WhatsApp discussion with youths, March 2021.
- 26.
Voice note sent on WhatsApp discussion with informal traders, Harare, April 2020.
- 27.
WhatsApp focus group discussion with informal traders, Harare, April 2020.
- 28.
COVID-19 Diary, May 2020.
- 29.
COVID-19 Diary, Harare, May 2020.
- 30.
WhatsApp text message by a civic activist during an active COVID-19 discussion in a WhatsApp group April 15, 2020.
- 31.
WhatsApp focus group discussion with youths, Harare, June 2020.
- 32.
WhatsApp focus group discussion with vendors, Harare, March 2021.
- 33.
Interview during observations exercise, Harare, July 2020.
- 34.
Interview with Getrude Chamboko in Harare, 29 March 2020.
- 35.
Interview with Simon Ponde in Harare, 29 March 2020.
- 36.
Interview with Joseph Mapuranga in Harare, 29 March 2020.
- 37.
Interview with Robson Maura in Harare, March 29, 2020.
- 38.
Interview with Health Expert Dr. Daimon in Harare, March 29, 2020.
- 39.
Focus group discussion on WhatsApp, April 13, 2020.
- 40.
WhatsApp focus group discussion, May 2020.
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Bhanye, J.I., Mangara, F., Matamanda, A.R., Kachena, L. (2023). The COVID-19 Lockdowns and Poor Urbanites in Harare, Zimbabwe: Exploring Socioeconomic Impacts with Remote Ethnography. In: COVID-19 Lockdowns and the Urban Poor in Harare, Zimbabwe. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-41669-9_5
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