Is the Republic of South Africa at
a breaking point? Major challenges include
a continuation of violent crime, social unrest, economic vulnerability, and
health concerns amidst the highest reported incidents of the Covid-19 epidemic
in Africa—all this being managed by a government that many claim is riddled
with systemic corruption and incompetence.
News24 recently[1]
reported a study by the South African Medical Research Council that
concludes that 17,000 more deaths should be attributed to Covid-19 than what
has been reported. The finding is based
on observing that the death rate has climbed to 59% above the expected death
rate in the country. Of the official
tally of 408,502 infections by 23 July, 2020[2]
in the country—fifth highest in the world—about 6,000 deaths had
occurred.[3] By 3 August, 2020, the number of infections
in South Africa was 516,862, and the number of deaths was 8,539.[4]
The country also reports a high percentage
of tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS, and the additional deaths may be from the virus
or related to the pandemic. In 2019, one
ranking of healthy countries identified South Africa as the unhealthiest in the
world.[5]
Also, according to City Press,[6]
the coronavirus has added a new crisis onto an old crisis in the medical care
system of the Eastern Cape Province. According
to Mcebisi Ndletyana in a News24 article, the province’s health minister,
Sindiswa Gomba, has had no training in health management and was even allegedly
part of an embezzlement of R6 million of government funds in her previous
position as an ANC politician in Buffalo City.[7] This points out the problem of government
incompetence and corruption and the affect it has on a society in the face of a
crisis where leadership competence and justice are essential. Ndletyana reports that ‘Patients sleep on the
floor. Ventilators are in short supply, so doctors have to make the cruel
decision of who to keep alive and who to leave to die. Local politicians who
have contracted Covid-19 are even refusing to be hospitalised in the province.’[8]
Among the long list of critical
problems facing the system is the need for ambulances. MP Evelyn Wilson, of the opposition Democratic
Alliance party, says that there is one ambulance per 21,000 km in the Eastern
Cape Province.[9]
Amid reports of persons waiting
for hours or of ambulances never arriving, the department has entered a
contract to purchase scooters instead.
Staffing, from cleaners to nurses to doctors to administrators, is also
part of the crisis. In early July, 75
doctors and nurses were deployed to Port Elizabeth to help with the staffing
shortages.[10]
In mid-July, the BBC’s Africa
correspondent, Andrew Harding, exposed the personnel shortages, mismanagement, corruption,
strikes orchestrated by the unions, filth, oxygen shortages, and deaths due to
staffing shortages in hospitals in Port Elizabeth over the past few months.[11] The virus has exposed the already tragic
health system in the province.
Volkswagen has stepped up to help in the crisis, setting up a field
hospital with 1,200 beds. This only
supports the view that real help can only come from outside the government’s
healthcare system.
Relatedly, after opening public
schools, President Cyril Ramaphosa has announced a four-week ‘break’ due to the
coronavirus. Schools are expected reopen
on 24 August. The American Academy of
Pediatrics ‘strongly advocates’ school reopening. They say, ‘Schools are fundamental to child
and adolescent development and well-being and provide our children and
adolescents with academic instruction, social and emotional skills, safety,
reliable nutrition, physical/speech and mental health therapy, and
opportunities for physical activity, among other benefits. Beyond supporting
the educational development of children and adolescents, schools play a
critical role in addressing racial and social inequity.’[12]
The Democratic Alliance party has
challenged school closing in South Africa in court, saying that trade unions and
political intrigue are behind the legally and scientifically baseless
decision. The township situation of
crowded spaces, many sharing a small room, socializing, and so forth is not
conducive to home lockdowns to stem the pandemic.[13] South Africa will continue its national
nutrition programme during school closures. Some churches, now permitted to meet with up
to 50 persons, have reopened. Others continue gathering online. In Port Elizabeth, where the Covid-19
situation is dire, churches remain closed—especially because travel to meetings
by taxi is a high risk. Permits are
required to travel out of the city. Most
mainline churches in South Africa are not holding worship services, and thus
plate giving is dropping. Many dioceses in the Anglican Church, for example,
are in financial distress. The Archbishop for the denomination has instructed
all clergy 60 years and older in the Diocese of Natal to retire due to
financial hardship. As a result, faithful, elderly clergy will sustain massive
penalties on their pensions and face the prospect of being without
accommodation.
Unemployment was increasing
before the virus. In the last quarter of
2019, unemployment stood at 29.1%, and rose to 31.1% in the first quarter of
2020[14]
(7.1 million people). Official figures
only report how many people are unemployed but looking for work—the problem is
much worse. A year ago, the Mail
& Guardian noted that unemployment rose by 8.8% since 2008, with 46%
black and 9.8% white unemployment. In
the North West and Eastern Cape provinces, unemployment is the worst.[15]
Fr Dudley Greenshields reports
that most churches in the Port Elizabeth in the Eastern Cape are providing soup
to those in need in response to unemployment, but job creation will be needed
long term.
With continuous energy problems,
the country is unlikely to attract foreign companies. The power utility, Eskom, issues regular
blackouts and has warned that its system is under severe pressure.[16] The problem South Africa faces is that
a locked down economy, which only slows the spread of the virus, may not be an
option for its economically challenged population as it might be for America
and northern Europe.
Private and foreign grants have
been given to help the worsening of the economic crisis due to the lockdown of
businesses. The government has produced
a R500 billion social relief and economic support package and has announced an
additional R15 billion for social grant recipients.[17]
Ramaphosa also acknowledged
concern about corruption in the midst of handling the coronavirus crisis,
saying that there have been ‘instances where funds are stolen, where they are
misused, where goods are overpriced, where food parcels are diverted from needy
households—where there is corruption and mismanagement of public funds.’[18]
The Special Investigation Unit is
charged with investigating corruption.
Closed businesses raise concerns about how long an economy with high
unemployment prior to the virus can sustain government grants. Bans have been in place on alcohol (to reduce
the virus spread, violence, and strain on trauma units) and cigarettes. Beaches are patrolled in some areas as a
lockdown measure, while mini-bus taxis, people pressing together in a small
space, are operating and full.
While the Africa National
Congress has ruled in South Africa since 1994, the Economic Freedom Fighters
(EFF) have a strong voice in national affairs.
The EFF calls for land expropriation without compensation, and marches
and protests are occurring in the country pressing for this as well. This concern is related to corrupt practices
whereby people pose as legitimate authorities and illegally sell private land
to the poor. The officials then arrive
to tear down the shacks.
This July, riots have erupted
near Cape Town in the Western Cape. A
group of youth invaded some land and then took to throwing stones at trucks and
the police. Tensions rose further as
violent rioters closed off roads and set buildings and a car alight.[19] Police dispersed the crowd with rubber
bullets and water from fire engines. More
extensive street rioting erupted in February, 2020 in Ladysmith, KwaZulu Natal.[20]
Recent, brutal attacks in rural
areas and the instruction not to investigate the crimes have left farmers and
small communities fearful.[21] The Transvaal Agricultural Union in South
Africa reports that there were 194 attacks and 29 murders on farms in Jan. –
June, 2019 and 141 farm attacks and 26 murders on farms in Jan. – June, 2020.[22] As this article was being written, another
three people were murdered on a small farm in the Northern Cape. There were 21,022 murders in South Africa in
2018/2019, and aggravated robbery was up in the last five years by 33%.[24]
There has been a decline in
commercial farmers from 120,000 in 1994 to about 35,000.
Such is the situation at the end
of July/beginning of August, 2020.
[A slightly earlier version of
this report appeared as Rollin Grams, 'The Challenges Facing South Africa,' The
Church of England Newspaper (31 July, 2020), p. 7.]
