Policing the (post)colonial body: The Covid-19 lockdown in South Africa. Issue 2 (3rd April 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Reed, Amber; Xaso, Ziyanda
• Is Part Of: Anthropology Southern Africa. Volume 45:Issue 2(2022)
• Page Start: 92
• Page End: 104
• Publication Date: 2022-04-03
• Subjects: apartheid -- Covid-19 -- policing -- postcolonialism -- South Africa -- surveillance; Anthropology -- Africa, Southern -- Periodicals; Ethnology -- Africa, Southern -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 301.0968
• DOI: 10.1080/23323256.2022.2101498
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2332-3256

Abstract

Abstract : In March 2020, South Africa enacted one of the world's most severe lockdowns to combat the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Whilst this action received international praise, its implementation by the armed security forces in many ways mirrored colonial and apartheid-era controls on movement, such as violent policing and curfews. In this article, we explore former anti-apartheid activists' experiences of the lockdown. We argue two points: lockdown policing triggered memories of state violence among apartheid survivors; and widespread support for the lockdown evidences the ways in which surveillance and the security state apparatus have become normalised in post-apartheid South Africa. We conclude by discussing alternatives to militarised policing during public health crises.