The South African newspaper The Daily Maverick May 8th:

“It’s difficult to quantify the number of people in need during a crisis, but early indications suggest as many as 34% of people in South Africa have gone to bed hungry during the lockdown. There were millions of people living in poverty before Covid-19 and millions more now need food, urgently.”

And on May 12th led with a quote by the well-known infectious disease expert, Professor Shabir Madhi: “Flawed lockdown has served its purpose and should be discontinued.” The Professor said,”Continuing the lockdown will not stop the wave of community transmissions from hitting South Africa, and continuing it will prolong the collateral damage.”

Without a doubt, the country is experiencing severe challenges even as lockdown is gradually reduced. It is exacerbating the existing challenges that millions, struggling to survive, already experience, with a government already gripped by many controversies and scandals. For some, this lockdown has shown a more authoritarian side of the government, and raised serious questions regarding basic civil liberties. Other countries are starting to witness the same issues.