ABSTRACT
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the world in ways few of us have witnessed in our lifetime. In two and a half years, 6.5 million deaths have been recorded worldwide. The economic cost of the pandemic is, however, incalculable. The Economist suggests that $10 trillion in GDP was forgone globally in 2020 and 2021. In South Africa, a country with a relatively young population, the COVID-19 case-fatality rate stands at approximately 2.5%, a small number considering the pandemic’s socio-economic impact. As of August 2021, South Africa’s unemployment rate is the highest in the world; more than half of the country’s population lives below the national poverty line. While these numbers are partly a result of the imposition of a very strict lockdown (which, no doubt, saved thousands of lives), they were severely worsened by ineffective leadership, abuse of power, and widespread corruption. This chapter provides a broad overview of the South African government’s response to COVID-19 by focussing on a few selected themes: the economic and gendered impact of the pandemic, corruption, and law enforcement. The chapter also maps out how the pandemic unfolded in South Africa.
