The pressure is on President Cyril Ramaphosa and his government to make the "right" decisions now, more than ever, as the coronavirus pandemic continues to plough through the world.
"We are living in times of change and the coronavirus crisis is going to ignite a big dynamic in politics," said Professor Andre Duvenhage.
Professor Duvenhage, a political scientist at the North West University, was speaking about the after effects of the coronavirus pandemic on the political status quo. Duvenhage warned that "there will be more challenges than opportunities" in the post-corona era. Looking at the effect of the pandemic on global politics, Duvenhage said: "There are already major changes in terms of alliances, relationships [and] international trade." "In South Africa, we were already at the tipping point before the coronavirus [outbreak]. The dynamic of the coronavirus is going to bring about further change." Duvenhage said that the possible inability of government to take tough decisions is a cause of concern. "My biggest concern at this point is the inability of the ANC government to take the right economic decisions to deal with this problem in a proper way." President Cyril Ramaphosa has been praised for his handling of the crisis thus far, but there remains growing concern over the economic impact of the nationwide lockdown, which Ramaphosa on Thursday extended for a further two weeks. Duvenhage warned that if the right economic decisions are not taken, "we are going to see higher levels of unemployment, low levels of economic growth, higher levels of political expectation and political instability." Listen to the full discussion here:
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorZahid Jadwat is a South African writer, columnist, podcaster and radio show host. Archives
March 2021
Categories
All
|