Musclebound Nhlanhla Zulu hangs out in the sun outside Dalton Hostel in Umbilo in Durban. He’s a smiling antidote to the misery of Covid-19. Milling around him, another hostel resident says things are bad. “It is hurting us,” the man says.
The entrance to the hostel is filthy. There are dead rats on the pavement. Waste pickers scavenge in a skip for tins. It stinks of urine. People sit on upturned beer crates nearby. Another resident says: “Since Corona people have been helping us, even though there is always poverty here.” She is worried. “The ‘parras’ (homeless drug users) are everywhere. They come in and go out, but we are staying inside.
We don’t know if they have got Corona. We chase them but we can’t beat them, they are humans. They don’t have a home. If they beg for food and we have, we give it to them.” Zulu lifts his big shoulders and sighs. Sure life is hard, he says, but not much more than usual.
He’s a gym instructor who sells health supplements. He shares a room with seven others. “We understand each other here. No one gets angry. If there is a problem we fix it.” In the lockdown Zulu longs for the gym. Normally he’s there six days a week from 7.30 am until 9 am. For now, he’s smiling and doing pushups.
