Strategies and Challenges Amidst COVID-19 Facing South Africa and Neighbouring Countries

• Jennifer Roeleveld ^[1]
  1. [1] University of Cape Town

     University of Cape Town

     City of Cape Town, Sudáfrica

     
• Localización: Intertax, ISSN 0165-2826, Vol. 48, Nº. 8-9, 2020, págs. 776-782
• Idioma: inglés
• Texto completo no disponible (Saber más ...)
• Resumen

  • This article examines specifically tax incentives and other economic measures introduced during the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. These measures come at a time that South Africa is facing its worst economic downturn since WWII, exacerbated by the recent pandemic. A positive spin on the situation has been that problems which exist in the economy (also in other sub-Saharan countries) such as poverty and unemployment have been seriously highlighted in the attempts to enforce a lockdown during the pandemic. Any policy changes and strategies currently being considered have no choice but to include all sectors of the economy and their pressing needs which go beyond COVID-19.(A few serious problems on the African continent are: Illnesses such as Malaria and Tuberculosis (TB) and a basic lack of food due to poverty. During the testing for COVID-19 in certain informal settlements in South Africa it revealed many more cases of TB than COVID-19. Without proper nourishment and medication TB leads to an early death for many. A total of 63,000 people died of TB in South Africa in 2018, according to new figures released by the World Health Organization (WHO). Two-thirds of those who died (42,000) were HIV positive. South Africa is one of only seven countries estimated to have above 500 cases of tuberculosis per 100,000 people – the others being Central African Republic, Lesotho, Mozambique, Namibia, North Korea and the Philippines. This also speaks to the lack of medical capacities whether it is for Malaria, TB, HIV or COVID-19. Unemployment is a major challenge which also leads to migration of persons to countries in Africa where they think they may be able to get employment. This puts further strain on already struggling economies and sometimes leads to xenophobia.)