Mzolo Veja Veli
Once again Afrikan governments are exposed for their illegitimacy and negligence.
This time the agent of exposure is the Coronavirus. After millions of Afrikans lost their lives a few decades ago due to HIV and Ebola one would reasonably expect Afrikan governments to have taken steps towards protecting their citizens in the event of another pandemic sweeping through the continent. There are no generally known steps taken by these governments first to investigate the origin of HIV or Ebola, to determine if these were naturally occurring viruses or lab created viruses weaponized as biological warfare. There has been no effort to determine who was responsible and consequently, held accountable. Furthermore, no known effort was put into studying the diseases and coming up with our own treatment. There was a moment when rumors were circulating about that doctors in Kenya could have developed a form of cure, however that avenue was never vigorously pursued.
The Afrikan governments simply failed their citizens. They went along with the narrative and solutions that were presented by the western world about the origins of Ebola and HIV. As a result, no one was held accountable. Even more disappointing, the governments were put in a position to rely on medicine from western countries to be prescribed to Afrikans who were lucky enough not to die because of HIV and Ebola. Today, millions of Afrikans in South Africa live with HIV with the help of medicine purchased from the U.S. and Europe.
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Fast forward to the latest pandemci–the Coronavirus which is sweeping through the continent. South Africa, in addition to a number of other African countries, Sierra Leone, Tanzania, is currently under lockdown. With millions of Afrikans living in squatter camps and overcrowded cities and townships the spread of this virus is likely to escalate quickly. Add to that, the lack of basic sanitary infrastructure, extreme poverty, and high unemployment most of the country could rapidly deteriorate into a disease infested bomb ready to explode.
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The South African government has no resources under its control. It is indebted to the International Monitory Fund and the World Bank. Thanks to Nelson Mandela and the ANC who agreed to pay off Apartheid debts that were accumulated by the racist white government to oppress the same Black people expected to pay off that debt. The ANC government also agreed to loans with structural adjustment conditions that prevent the government of South Africa from investing in the health system, the educational system and other basic social infrastructures. Basically any social infrastructure that is invested in the health, education, safety, housing, and basic needs of Black South Africans.
The general public has long concluded that the current government is illegitimate and negligent. The people are for the most part unable to adhere to basic preventive measures such as social distancing due to overcrowded living conditions and saturated public transportation, thousands of other citizens are purposefully ignoring the call to be quarantined. In spite of the health hazard that may result people are simply violating the call as some form of protest against the government that they believe does not care about their welfare nor represent their interests. In fact before the Coronavirus there were already protests for electricity and water.
Just as they did when the HIV virus and Ebola attacked, the South African government is waiting on Western countries to come up with vaccines for the Coronavirus. In the past few days reports were circulating about French doctors suggesting that Africans be used as guinea pigs to test their vaccines. In addition, Bill Gates is ramping up talks about working together with the South African government to tackle medical issues and research for the Coronavirus.
So again, like the rest of the continent, South Africa is exposed to a pandemic and is at the mercy of the western world. The South African government has no resources to deal with both the health and financial fallout after all this is said and done. The longer this pandemic goes on the more devastating the consequences. And when eventually this latest calamity has passed, the recovery will take years.