COVID-19: Social disparities, lessons learnt and the New World Order

It is almost a year since the first case of the coronavirus (COVID-19) was reported in the City of Wuhan, Hubei Province in China. Since then, official news channels and social media platforms have been abuzz with information updates on the virus every moment of the day.

COVID-19 rapid geographic morbidity and mortality across the globe led the World Health Organization (WHO) director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus to declare it a pandemic on March 11, 2020.

Little is known about the virus, even in the scientific world, given its ‘novel’ status implying that it has never occurred in the world, further posing a serious threat to humanity in terms of prevention, control, treatment and overall public health intervention and management approaches.

The COVID-19 pandemic has overturned and disrupted socio-economic fabrics of every society. From family, school, church, physical activity to businesses, travel and tourism industries, aviation, hospitality and manufacturing sector; worse still it poses significant emotional and mental health impact such as burnout, anxiety, stress, depression and in the long term Post-Traumatic Stress Disorders (PTSD) and trauma from experiencing death and dying.

But how the world recovers, restructures, readjusts and rebuilds itself from the devastating effects of COVID-19 leaves much to ponder, as the pandemic lays bare glaring societal contradictions and inequalities, especially amongst vulnerable communities; migrant workers, the elderly, displaced populations, homeless, commercial sex workers, informal sector, victims of domestic violence, children exposed to abuse and gender-based violence, working poor, the uninsured and people of colour.

This article seeks to delve into existing social inequalities, which were exacerbated by COVID-19 on Botswana’s human development sector and make suggestions on closing these glaring anomalies.

Botswana’s pre- and post-independence human development agenda were skewed towards poverty eradication as opposed to closing existing inequality gaps, most probably influenced by international rating agencies then when the country was ranked amongst the poorest.

However, the country soon experienced phenomenal growth rates in Gross Domestic Product (GDP) averaging 10% per annum between 1966 and 2008 (Budget Speech, 2019). Real per capita income increased from $70 in 1966 to the current level of over $7,000 with poverty declining from 59% in 19851986 to 19.3% in 2009-2010 and further to 16.3% in 2015-2016 period.

Botswana Core Welfare Indicators Survey of 20092010 indicates unemployment rates at 17.9% with more females (21.4%) unemployed than males at 14.6%. Using data from comparative and consecutive surveys carried out in 1993-1994, 2002-2-03 and 2009-2010 poverty levels showed a decline with a poverty datum line of 47,30.6 and 17.3% respectively.

Income inequality as measured by Gini coefficient disposable income for the same period increased from 0.537, 0.573 and 0.645, respectively. But does the fall in poverty equate to decline in inequality? Most probably not.

Then the direction of our intervention programmes becomes suspect in the sense that poverty might be an outcome of inequality thus tackling poverty would be like solving problems from the top as opposed to dealing with the root cause.

Several reports attest to inequality situation, which was further laid bare by COVID-19. The Botswana Population and Housing Census of 2001 found that 24% of the population never attended school; income from the sale of traditional beer was at 2.4 percent mostly women in rural areas; internet access was at 24% of households in 2014 and 94% individuals owned cellphones; poverty rate at 14.7% according to the Poverty Mapping exercise of 2009-2010 with rural areas such as Kweneng West at 56.8% and Ngamiland West at 63.9% leading and the unemployment rate at 19.6% in 2011; cattle ownership stood at 19% of all households; agriculture contributed four percent to GDP but employed 25.7% of the labour force.

Rural areas remained agrarian at 46% with main water supply being through bousing/tanker, wells and river stream and energy sources for low-income families remain using firewood and cow dung, according to 2001 census.

Given the prevailing inequalities some of which might have improved and or declined, several options are suggested for consideration below.

Education

E-learning as a teaching and learning strategy should enhance face-to-face education, albeit consideration of learners’ socio-economic diverse backgrounds.

Be as it may be, strong support structures have to be embedded in every educational initiative, especially the academic and emotional needs of students engaged in homeschooling or e-education.

Civil liberties for children with all kinds of disabilities should be taken into account and so is the use of appropriate and individualised software’s, physical access, providers with prerequisite training in handling and managing learners with different disabilities.

This is where the value of families or parents becomes critical as education stakeholders who need constant engagement and feedback for optimal outcomes.

It must, however, be borne in mind though that the biggest challenge with e-education is internet access and affordability, which transcend education to societal inequalities. Once this barrier can be adequately addressed then e-learning can be optimally enjoyed and realised.

For instance, to talk about learners accessing their material via virtual learning platforms is impossible if families lack household electricity connectivity.

Redesigning and retooling classrooms to comply with social distancing requirement will require additional resources and spaces bearing in mind classroom congestion and student/teacher ratios.

Current build in the environment of our standard classrooms under Local Government Authorities need a different architecture and arrangement. Employment, labour relations and workplace safety. Workplaces will not be spared either; the need to come up with new physical/personal space dimensions cannot be avoided (1–1.5 metres). This calls for innovative measures like telecommuting, telework, redesigning office space in terms of the distance between tables, fewer contacts and virtual communication.

The corporate world needs to rationalise staff, engage human resources and organisational behaviour or development experts to reconstitute work environment and as a matter of fact, ILO to issue new workplace and safety guidelines to accommodate prevailing circumstances and new demands. Shift work can be introduced in high-intensity environments like mining and manufacturing to mitigate against the spread of the virus.

A sudden shift in the health status of an individual worker to the employer.

There is a need for close monitoring of workers’ health daily, requirements such as screening, temperature monitoring and treatment becomes not only necessary but compulsory.

This calls for strict data capturing for accountability, sharing with stakeholders and transparency on matters of workers’ health. Information database needs to be created and updated all the time to track the health status of all.

Employers’ right to demand the health status of employees and even test temperatures, previous travel history/contacts and an obligation on the part of the employer to perform these new roles requires extra resources.

New roles for shop stewards and floor managers, this also calls for the need for workplace support structures that allows for surveillance and monitoring of health conditions and be able to screen, test and isolate employee if the need arises.

Provisions have to be made for employees who contact COVID-19 in the workplace, calling for the review of Workman’s Compensation Act to accommodate these new developments.

Moreover, the Government through the OHS unit needs to conduct frequent workplace audits to detect and guide compliance with new physical distancing measures and other protocols.

Economic reinvention

This is the time for the government to come up with robust diversification initiatives and comprehensive stimulus packages to kickstart the economy. Funding and revitalisation of SMMEs could be the most vital economic stimulus strategy to boost local economic development and sustain livelihoods.

The agricultural sector should support the government to transform rural economies as emerging economic hubs and centres of sustainable livelihoods, however, this requires massive infrastructural development, construction of roads, electricity connectivity and deployment of much-needed expertise in veterinary surgeons and agricultural experts such as; agronomists, agricultural economics, plant scientists, sustainable farming experts and other field specialists at the operational level. This can stimulate the agricultural sector with rural areas being suppliers of agricultural goods in the supply value chain and towns serving as major agribusiness centres (packaging and distribution). The government should create ‘cluster production centres’ to enhance agriculture production, reduce waste, standardise prices, enhance value addition and probably retain women and youth and link them to viable local and regional markets that can give them profit for their products. In the cluster production centres, farmers can be empowered and introduced to modern agricultural technologies and adoption of current agricultural production methods. Farmers can be mentored on the use of modern farming approaches and technologies such as precision farming, using ICT programmes to capture and record their farming activities and introduction to accounting principles of ledgers, income/expenditures and profit and loss accounts. On the other hand, the government must grudgingly guard against science and research being used to steal indigenous plants and products e.g. sdevil’s claw and kgengwe, how much did new scientific evidence on these medicinal plants benefit the host country. At this point, we should be using drought resistance properties of kgengwe watermelon plant to enhance food security by propagating it with indigenous crops such as maize and sorghum for better yields as they would be more drought tolerant.

The agricultural sector can be used as a development vehicle that retains and returns rural communities to their pre-independence vibrant forms and creates both permanent and seasonal jobs for women and youth as key players in the sector. The biggest challenge in the agricultural sector does not lie much in the unavailability of resources such as land but in access to the market, poultry farmers can attest to this. Abounded poultry farms litter most major national highways as it has proven expensive to individually sell a single piece compared to bulk sales. The revitalisation of the agricultural sector has economic boom effects and somewhat guarantees household, national food security and a reduction in the country’s import bill through import substitutions. A country that cannot feed its populace is under threat from shocks, especially drought and civil unrest emanating from poor food distribution and scarcity, this country should not wait for the storm to hit it before it acts. It must, however, be said that the above initiative requires a planned and coordinated national strategy where producers are capacitated, subsidised and provided with intensive technical support.

Special packages to pump and reticulate water is vital, in this instance government can reduce farming expenditure by promoting the transition from diesel-powered energy sources to sustainable green technologies, which conform to climate change protocols and Sustainable Development Goal number 16 of building green cities. This initiative can be activated by farmers accessing once-off capital injection for loans to connect solar-powered grids.

The informal sector remains and is seen as another vital economic engine of growth that needs urgent revitalisation even though its contribution is often unaccounted for in the GDP, but has a ripple effect in local communities. The sector comprises mostly of women who head large households and failure to support the sector will quickly push new entrants into the already bloated government welfare programmes.

Hasten to mention that all economic reinvention or redevelopment initiatives must be construed under national principles of self-reliance, sustainable livelihoods and anchored under a common denominator of ‘Buy Botswana’ or ‘Local First’ that is the production of any goods and services that should be geared towards ‘a local consumer’ and for ‘Botswana as a country’. These local market protectionist or local entrepreneurship strategies should not in any way be seen along with nationalist and or nativist policies and or tendencies pursued by some powerful leaders across the globe.

Lessons learnt from COVID-19

Service delivery

Pre-lockdown the President made a humble appeal to the nation that no employee should lose his/ her job due to the coronavirus, but the reality is that job losses are inevitable post-SOE, especially in structured work environment given the transition from office to telework as several roles and work structures will be deemed obsolete.

Workings from home solely benefit middle to high-income employees at the expense of low skilled, income earners and young workers who are in the majority.

Consumer protection remains paramount and should take precedence during crises times with regards to regulation and control of prices for essential and basic commodities.

Naturally, during a high intensive resource mobilisation exercise like the COVID-19 Relief Campaign, there will be opportunists who want to take advantage of the situation. They nonetheless need to be managed through strong and effective oversight institutions, not by powerful individuals.

Information Communication

Technology (ICT)

Digitalisation and integration of all human development services should be the next government flagship programme. Transit from analogue to live streaming; telehealth, telemedicine, telework, adoption of online teaching and learning starting from the early years; but this requires regulation of internet data prizes as well as zero-rating some critical areas such as education.

The power of the fourth estate in informing, educating and communicating news, especially the use of new techniques such as sharing live pictures and videos have provided instantaneous messages to the public often much quicker than the official channels.

Education

Reforms in this sector are a matter of urgency as education is the core function of government. For instance, all government schools from primary, secondary, vocational, tertiary to university should be permitted to self-govern and sustain. In the above situation, the government will only provide sponsored students to different schools. Her main role will be confined to setting the national education philosophy, providing technical support, approval of curriculum, credentialing of schools, quality assurance, funding and setting performance standards for all schools.

School management and indirectly school boards will be responsible for hiring school managers, teachers, school maintenance, assets management, the security of learners and teachers, feeding programme and all other resources required for sustenance.

This proposed education model might assist bridge the inequality gap between different schools in terms of locality and resourcing. Thus, governments’ role transformed from rowing and or steering to education regulator, quality assurance and oversight.

Health and human services

Health care providers are currently receiving applause, accolades and ovations for their sterling work but going forward there is need to develop sustainable, structured, comprehensive and resourced Care for Carers (CFC) programme to help them deal with the aftermath and or long term effects of COVID-19.

District multi-sectorial structures could be used to manage local COVID-19 epidemics and where possible cluster their epidemiological data, make recommendations and contextualise their response based on their geographic needs and uniqueness.

Manufacturing of locally-based basic commodities including medical consumables and or supplies e.g. hand gloves, bandages, hand sanitizer, masks, test kits with the government procuring these goods directly from the source.

Ministries of Health and Wellness (MoHW), Finance and Development Planning should reflect and commission an independent evaluation on the impact of COVID-19 on the country’s human development sector and evidence from the review used as a baseline for planning and management of similar situations in future. Creation of a national surveillance system that will provide real-time data on disease outbreaks and public health emergencies. This requires rebuilding and or restructuring public health systems with an emphasis on infrastructure development, surveillance, monitoring, field epidemiology, laboratory capacity, building strong human expertise and medical technologies. A new perspective of health as an isolated entity to biosocial, which is the total or aggregate of all human services, water, electricity, food and food security, housing and public security has been realised.

As a matter of urgency, MoHW to come up with COVID-19 testing protocol. For instance, is testing only limited to contacts of index case or can a healthy individual request a COVID test?

Governance and public trust

It has proven difficult to lockdown every community given prevailing socio-economic disparities e.g. How do you lock down an individual with unreliable energy sources, inaccessible water supply and no sanitary facility?

Science, medicine and public health need to be listened to and given space, time to make decisions given the circumstances we find ourselves in.

In crises situations; vision, decisive leadership, values and honesty catapults a country through. There is a need for the promulgation of laws that will allow the state to collect personal data from citizens without their consent during public health emergencies but only for disease prevention and control. Reviewing as a matter of urgency outdated laws, regulations and policies to meet changing circumstances e.g. Education Act, Public Health Act, Occupational Health Act and Employment Act etc. Government operational efficiency came under heavy scrutiny given several administrative lapses most notably; management of permits, the turnaround time for results, strategic communication, role confusion and lack of data-driven decision-making. It was quite evident that SOE by its language and intent was meant as the last resort to maintain social order and not to control public health emergencies. Frequent declaration of SOEs has diminishing returns on governance and may adversely affect the country’s international democratic ratings.

Post lockdown economic recovery efforts need the country to dig deep into history and draw some lessons on how European countries planned and restructured their development agendas post-World War II with the introduction of Marshall Plan and the South Korea recovery plan post the Korean War. These two massive reconstruction efforts might not be similar in magnitude and scope but identical lessons can be drawn. For instance, rebooting the economy requires massive infrastructural projects, economic stimulus packages, government social spending, employment creation and massive currency circulation through capital injections or startup capital, especially livelihood projects.

These economic redevelopment efforts need to reflect, redesign and retool laws, employment regulations, workplace policies and strategic plans such that they become more inclusive, representative and serve to meet the ideals and aspirations of all in society. Influenced and informed by equality, human dignity, innovation, local investment, citizen empowerment and regional cooperation.

Conclusion

Managing the epidemic has proven to be a delicate balance between two opposing forces; rights vs. health; lives vs. livelihoods, lockdown vs. adherence and health vs. the economy.

*Thuto Tomeletso is principal consultant at Institute of Development Management (IDM) writing in his own personal capacity.