“Sathi sifuna ukusebenza, siyasebenza” [We said we wanted to work, so we must work]: minibus taxi drivers’ stories during the Covid-19 pandemic in Durban, South Africa

Abstract

The Covid-19 outbreak in late 2019 illustrated how biological facts and social processes often intersect to account for differential epidemiological patterns of disease outbreak. In South Africa, existing social, political and economic factors intersected with the Covid-19 pandemic in particular ways to exacerbate the existing precarity of those who generate income from the informal sectors, such as minibus taxis. The informal minibus taxi industry is the backbone of the public transport system in the country as it makes up 70% of daily commutes. It also attracts mostly black urban youth who cannot be absorbed by the formal sector and employs approximately 300 000 minibus taxi drivers. In this study, I investigated the stories of minibus taxi drivers during the Covid-19 pandemic to assess their responses to health emergencies such as Covid-19. The everyday lived experiences of minibus taxi drivers make them vulnerable to contracting airborne diseases, including Covid-19 and tuberculosis. In addition, the government’s response to the Covid-19 outbreak further deepened the precarity of minibus taxi drivers’ employment as it restricted their operations and loading capacities. This structural violence to which my interlocutors were exposed is born out the deep inequality that characterises the larger South African society.