ABSTRACT:
Many planners and government officials tend to see Africa's large informal sector as “a chaotic jumble of unproductive activates” that should be removed through forced eviction and repression. But this sector supports local livelihoods and income, and has helped to alleviate poverty and to provide some degree of social protection. COVID 19 illustrates how the prejudice against the informal economy was carried over in the top- down containment measures enforced during the pandemic. These measures caused more harm than the virus itself, and have raised serious human rights concerns. The initial information about COVID 19, and the standard advice about its control were based on data from high and middle income countries. Unfortunately, these aggressive measures were applied in Africa without sufficiently taking into account the local cultures and social economy of the region, and therefore affected informal sector workers and informal settlements adversely and disproportionately. Most informal sector workers depend for their daily earnings on constant movement and interaction outside the home, and were therefore exposed to constant harassment by state officials who enforced COVID lock-down and other restrictions on movement. Housing conditions in informal settlements are usually overcrowded, with limited access to water, sanitation and social services needed to comply with COVID protocols for social/physical distancing, hand washing, With hindsight, the official response to the pandemic in Africa was misguided in many respects. Many more people may have died from hunger and damage done by rigid COVID policies. The top down COVID policies appeared to serve the interest of the elite. We argue that for the future government officials and planners, who aspire to international standards of modernity, and adopt the prescriptions of the global community, need to strike the right balance between the ideals of international standards, and the reality of local conditions and requirements.