Read all my lockdown journal entries.
South Africa’s official lockdown started today.
South Africa has 1,170 confirmed cases of COVID-19 today. We also had our first death – a 48-year-old woman in Western Cape province.
Read all my lockdown journal entries.
South Africa’s COVID-19 lockdown begins in about 24 hours.
As of today, South Africa has 709 documented cases of COVID-19 and no deaths. Yesterday we had 554 cases and the day before we had just over 400. More than half the cases are in Gauteng province.
Read all my lockdown journal entries.
At midnight on Thursday, South Africa is going into a 21-day lockdown.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the lockdown last night in a speech to the nation. Although the situation we’re in is horrifying beyond measure, I feel much safer after listening to the president’s speech than I felt before. I trust President Ramaphosa to lead the country as best he can, and I’m really grateful for that. Trust in leadership is a luxury many people around the world don’t have right now.
A couple of weeks ago I visited Hallmark House, a hip hotel in downtown Joburg, for my friend Gilda’s birthday celebration.
Hallmark House has an interesting story. It was built a few years ago (at great expense) by Propertuity, the real estate company that created the Maboneng Precinct, and designed by acclaimed architect David Adjaye, who also designed the Smithsonian Museum of African American History. Hallmark went up for auction last year when Propertuity abruptly went out of business. The building is now owned by Steyn Investments.
Kameel is the second stop in my #10SouthAfricanTowns campaign, for which I’m visiting ten small towns across South Africa in 2020.
Kameel means “Camel” in Afrikaans. The original farm there is called “Kameel Bult”, which roughly means “Camel Hill”, and I assume the town got its name from the farm.
Val is the first stop in my #10SouthAfricanTowns campaign, for which I’m visiting ten small towns across South Africa in 2020.
After months of talking about it, my #10SouthAfricanTowns campaign has finally begun. I visited Val, a tiny hamlet in Mpumalanga province, on the third weekend in January.