The coronavirus is hitting South Africa's mainly black townships harder than areas that were once the exclusive preserve of white people, according to new data that highlights the lasting impact of apartheid-era housing policies.
Townships in the Western Cape province, South Africa's main coronavirus hotspot, are suffering particularly high rates of infection, government tracking shows.
Nearly 12% of all infections in the Western Cape are in Khayelitsha, the largest township in Cape Town, even though it has just 6% of the province's population.
"We are seeing townships become virus hotspots because we haven't dismantled the apartheid city," said Edward Molopi, a researcher with housing and human rights charity the Socio-Economic Research Institute in Johannesburg.
Human rights defenders have said security forces were deployed to enforce lockdowns mainly in poor black areas like high density townships, where higher population numbers and overcrowding made it impossible to properly isolate.
