Paper short abstract:

Rural villagers in South Africa complained that the urban elites and government officials “closed the gate” (ukuvala isango) on their cultural and economic lives during the pandemic. This paper explores how the state is under pressure to "open the gate' after lockdown in the former homelands.

Paper long abstract:

This paper seeks to update some of the ethnographic research published in the book, Covid and Custom in Rural South Africa by focusing not only on the social and economic adjustments and consequences of the pandemic for households and communities, but also on the nature of rural statecraft. The research, which is currently underway in the former Transkei (2023), is structured around interviews with families on their strategies and interactions with the state before, during and after the pandemic. Preliminary findings suggest that, amidst the widespread hunger, unemployment and poverty in rural areas today, there is evidence of an sharp rise in average rural household sizes (4 to 6), increased food production and hugely reduced circular migration rates. At the same time, ritual practices are being restructured, women's networks are being rebuilt, and the rural distributive economy reconstituted. The paper explores these changes within the context of wider political, economic and social changes in the society, and the agency of the state which has been heavily criticized during the pandemic for shutting down facilities and support (especially clinics, government departments, and hospitals) in rural areas. Death and fear prevailed in an atmosphere where state support and care vanished . But, at the same time, the state was lauded for the extension of emergency social grants to the youth and unemployed. In the former Transkei villages the youth nevertheless sang: "Ramaphosa uyamthanda umahlalela, uvele amnike iR350", meaning the President “loves unemployed people” because he can only offer them grants, not jobs.