Will poverty and job losses cause more damage than Covid-19 in SA

Many commentators are saying South Africa simply does not have the economic depth – especially after the years of corruption and plunder under previous administrations – to come out healthy on the other side of the Covid-19 pandemic. But Dawie Roodt, Chief Economist at the Efficient Group, says the poverty, job losses and economic decline caused by a prolonged lockdown will be even worse for the South African economy than the impact of the virus. He says economic activity must be opened up immediately, with measures to manage the spread of the disease.