South Africa’s Covid-19 economic stimulus plan — opportunity out of crisis https://mg.co.za/article/2020-04-21-south-africas-covid-19-economic-stimulus-plan-opportunity-out-of-crisis/

Quite a number of encouraging staff coming from SA’s approach to #COVID19, of which most notable is using the crisis to address existing inequities by expanding access to basic services eg ‘We thank the virus for the water’. Now imagining to go further for ‘new social compact’.

What I like about it isn’t necessarily its full success but recognition that -existing challenges can’t be addressed in a business as usual approach, crisis offers an opportunity to try a different approach & this s’d be done by daring to imagine big, unthinkable before COVID19

There is a lot of talk about unsustainablity of economic development model of the pre COVID19 era, on z imperative of addressing inequality between & within nations but not clear if all smell the coffee & how to translate into policy measures. Seems #SouthAfrica showing the way.

Indeed all progressive and social forces should push for the opportunities of this crisis to be exhaustively used to creating a more just, inclusive & human-centred system of economic and political governance.

As the open letter from African intellectuals insisted ‘African leaders can and should propose to their societies a new political idea of Africa...dearth of political will, extractive practices of external actors no longer be used as excuse for inaction.’ https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/indepth/features/open-letter-african-intellectuals-leaders-covid-19-200417140154396.html

Check super nice thread by @MaS1banda from live tweeting the address from President @CyrilRamaphosa last night. https://twitter.com/mas1banda/status/1252668677775929347?s=21 https://twitter.com/mas1banda/status/1252668677775929347