South Africa has been a very fragile nation for a very long time — a place of persistent economic struggle and breathtaking inequality, intolerable violence, and racial animus still lurking beneath every national controversy. But until this week I had never seriously entertained the idea that the place might suddenly fall apart. The coronavirus may have dealt South Africa a blow that even AIDS could not, driving the country of my birth down the path of madness, a society slumping into the abyss. The possibility of such collapse terrifies me — not just as a native South African, but as an American. The coronavirus has gutted economies, depleted social, medical and security services, corroded trust and created opportunities for rampant violence and political persecution.

Source: International New York Times July 15, 2021 09:00 UTC