---
title: "Photo Essay: Port Elizabeth"
description: "Photo Essay: Port Elizabeth"
type: "NewsArticle"
publisher: "Daily Maverick"
site: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za"
section: "CORONAVIRUS #LOCKDOWN"
author: "Mike Holmes"
author_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/author/mike-holmes/"
canonical_url: "https://www.dailymaverick.co.za/article/2020-04-23-photo-essay-port-elizabeth/"
published: "2020-04-23T00:39:48"
updated: "2020-04-23T08:19:59"
lang: "en-ZA"
word_count: 316
---

# Photo Essay: Port Elizabeth

> Photo Essay: Port Elizabeth

By Mike Holmes · Published 23 April 2020, 02:39 SAST · Updated 23 April 2020, 10:19 SAST

## Content

South Africans have spent almost a month living in lockdown after President Cyril Ramphosa declared the outbreak of coronavirus infections in the country a national disaster. As residents continue life under lockdown in Port Elizabeth, Maverick Citizen photographer Mike Holmes captured moments of small routines, big gestures and glimmers of hope in a series of images examining life away from the quiet streets of the city. Holmes took his camera from the busy site of a food parcel handover, to the swimming pool where a youngster trains for a long-distance swim, to the quiet streets of a low-cost housing scheme where only a bull is roaming around.

![A homeless man does his washing at the makeshift homeless shelter that was set up at the Walmer Town Hall in Port Elizabeth for the lockdown period. (Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/g7ySpjKqksJTw8Ti2zRC0r5MftE=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_5.jpg)

*A homeless man does his washing at the makeshift homeless shelter that was set up at the Walmer Town Hall in Port Elizabeth for the lockdown period. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![A volunteer helps a Walmer township resident to pack donated food. Walmer township is one of the areas in the Nelson Mandela Metro where the need for food has been highlighted. (Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/-BqjCLDS2b_5st0Zd5ivwcmOYo4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_9.jpg)

*A volunteer helps a Walmer township resident to pack donated food. Walmer township is one of the areas in the Nelson Mandela Metro where the need for food has been highlighted. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![Residents from Walmer Township return home after receiving food parcels to help them through the lockdown period.(Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/9txIrcX_PPoJZwXTQbfT3PNMfKg=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_4.jpg)

*Residents from Walmer Township return home after receiving food parcels to help them through the lockdown period. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![A roadblock by members of the South African Defence Force on one of Port Elizabeth's busiest roads.  
(Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/9Nk8aG-mE7x5iSU7ozfTTyJIKQM=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_7.jpg)

*A roadblock by members of the South African Defence Force on one of Port Elizabeth's busiest roads. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![Rubbish piling up in Durban Road Korsten despite the municipality's assurance that waste collection was going ahead.(Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/rgvO677jwcpwXQH-bCzJ8mofcnQ=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_1.jpg)

*Rubbish piling up in Durban Road Korsten despite the municipality's assurance that waste collection was going ahead. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![With pineapple beer being all the rage, informal traders selling the fruit were doing a brisk trade in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. (Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/hzohBLpw2snYeQJjtdwF16u2TU4=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_2.jpg)

*With pineapple beer being all the rage, informal traders selling the fruit were doing a brisk trade in Port Elizabeth on Wednesday. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![A soldier watches as crowds gather for food parcels in Zwide, Port Elizabeth. (Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/EvqaTFaqXeBuSQVwU9ZC3kkWe_g=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_6.jpg)

*A soldier watches as crowds gather for food parcels in Zwide, Port Elizabeth. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![Brandon Chalmers  practices long-distance swimming in his dad's pool during lockdown. (Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/DhBSRX7O4Zln5Su_PGcrVQjrqiw=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_8.jpg)

*Brandon Chalmers practices long-distance swimming in his dad's pool during lockdown. (Photo: Mike Holmes)*

![A bull from a nearby herd surprised members of the South African Police's Mounted Unit on patrol through the low cost housing development Walmer Links in Port Elizabeth. 
(Photo: Mike Holmes)](https://cdn.dailymaverick.co.za/i/MLqxSnZmn1khZhYyTtnMtydfnag=/200x100/smart/filters:strip_exif\(\)/file/dailymaverick/wp-content/uploads/Covid-PicEssay-Mike_10.jpg)

*A bull from a nearby herd surprised members of the South African Police's Mounted Unit on patrol through the low cost housing development Walmer Links in Port Elizabeth.(Photo: Mike Holmes)*