Author: Dr Mamphela Ramphele

It has taken a tiny organism, SARS-CoV-2, to get even the most conservative traditionalists to accept that state institutions are essential to mobilising national resources to protect and promote the common good. The fragilities of neoliberal economics have been laid bare. Institutional capacity in public health care systems, law enforcement and regulatory agencies, as well as the capacity of the state to commandeer production of essential goods and services, have become decisive interventions in this pandemic. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, whose conservative government had for years underfunded the public sector, confirmed this unequivocally when he thanked the National Health…