CAPE TOWN, South Africa—Two out of five Black workers have lost their income during a monthslong coronavirus lockdown. Police are tearing down shacks built on public land by people who can no longer pay rent on their previous homes. More than 668,000 South Africans have tested positive for the coronavirus in the country of 60 million. Amid one of the world’s strictest lockdowns, Africa’s most-developed economy contracted by 17.6% in the second quarter from a year earlier. Those questions are existential in South Africa, whose democracy was built on a promise of racial equality, but where nearly two-thirds of Black people—who make up 80% of the population—still live in poverty.

Source: Wall Street Journal September 25, 2020 11:01 UTC