Public good, mindful bodies and human rights: a narrative investigation of the health-related experiences of unhoused adults confined in the Strandfontein Camp during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Cape Town, South Africa

This paper explores unhoused people’s health-related experiences and perceptions of the implementation of the City of Cape Town’s COVID-19 policy involving the movement of people to the “Strandfontein Camp”, undertaken during the South African lockdown from March to April 2020. This policy was intended to serve as a public health measure to protect people from the spread of the virus. It ultimately resulted in the forced relocation of about 1600 people experiencing homelessness in the city to a temporary camp. A qualitative exploratory study design and the theoretical framework of the “three bodies” of the anthropologists Scheper-Hughes and Lock guided the study, which explored the perceptions of those who were moved to the Camp. The participants’ narratives about their body-self, the social representations, surveillance and control of their bodies by the City were also central to navigating the complex relationship between public health interventions, human dignity and rights. The findings highlight the importance of revising the approach to shelter for people experiencing homelessness to ensure the implementation of effective and equity-focused health interventions during a global pandemic. The findings also point to the need for more consultative and nuanced public health responses in the future and for pandemic readiness.