NEVA MAKGETLA: Red tape is the biggest threat to coronavirus interventions

SA doesn’t yet have a coronavirus epidemic, and with discipline and luck we won’t be hit too hard in the coming months. But the economic impacts of the global pandemic are already hammering SA exports and tourism.

Faced with limited reserves and the need to reach marginalised workers and communities, we need to look at unconventional and risky responses. Any programme will entail risks, but they are dwarfed by the costs of doing nothing. The core challenge is to mitigate the inevitable hazards, above all by working closely with organised business and labour...