Link: https://allafrica.com/view/group/main/main/id/00077074.html
In 2020 the South African economy decreased by 7%, that is the biggest drop they’ve had in the past century. Statistician General Risenga Maluleke revealed this information to the media when discussing GDP. Although South Africa’s economy saw a 1.5% increase in the fourth quarter, it wasn’t enough to recover from the damage that COVID has done to their economy, mainly in the second quarter when lockdown restrictions were heaviest. This economic decrease is reported to be the biggest economic loss since 1946, when the Spanish Flu and drought brought the economy down about 11%, this shows the devastating effects that pandemics have on a countries economy.
South Africa is a prime example of the effects that COVID has had on every countries economy, with one of the biggest economies in Africa facing this kind of adversity, the question is drawn of how badly have other African nations been affected by the pandemic. I don’t believe this is a reason for concern from less fortunate African nations, mainly because they’ve already seen the toll this pandemic takes on economies. But I do believe this is a wake up call for Sub-Saharan African countries to get rid of the problems that increase the economic deficits. Those problems being corruption, lack of resources, and human rights obstructions. Although South Africa has the second biggest economy in Africa, they also have the second highest amount of corruption according to the 2019 corruption perceptions index, and I believe that is the reason for their economic problems towards the end of 2020.
When looking at Sub-Saharan Africa’s geopolitical realities, we recognize that it is a conflict zone. This is caused by both the amount of corruption and division both internally and externally. The only solution I see to this geopolitical problem is influence of outside super powers, take the US for example; a uni-polar global superpower that rarely seems to face much adversity. Through trade agreements and cooperation with a country like the United States, not only can South Africa recover from this economic decline, but they can set an example for African countries that are down worse than themselves.