Abstract:

The outbreak of the global Covid-19 pandemic in 2019 has left most countries economically devastated as interminent lockdowns forced economic activities to ground to a halt. This is invariably and inevitably led to job losses. Whilst most of the global workforce faced retrenchments, most public servants like lecturers had their jobs secured. However, they were overwhelmed by the consequences of the pandemic as colleagues and the loved ones were infected and some succumbed to Covid-19. The online learning assisted lecturers to continue with the academic activities, however, most of them experienced anxiety and feared that they might contract the virus from colleagues and students during campus visits as per rotational roster. This paper explores lived experiences on survival strategies of South African lecturers in HEI in the face of the pandemic. This paper is located in the interpretivist paradigm and used documentary analysis to capture the experiences of the lecturers. This study is underpinned by both Cognitive Theory and Anxiety Theory.

Keywords:

Covid-19 pandemic, anxiety, depression, survival strategies, infectious disease control.