Covid-19 Country Report Validation Workshops

On Monday 24 and Thursday 27 May the DPME/GTAC/NRF partnership hosted the first two Covid-19 Validation Workshops. Two further Validation Workshops are planned, for Monday 31 May and Thursday 3 June. The authors and presenters, from local and international universities, are providing their time and expertise pro-bono for this important initiative. Their research represents the culmination of a year of meetings, interviews, data gathering, analysis and writing up findings. The 17 chapters or sub-chapters in the First Edition Covid-19 Country Report will be published in June 2021, and this series of four Validation Workshops offers a platform for the authors to share their findings and solicit inputs from a wider audience. In the process, all the chapters are peer reviewed to identify duplications and any potential overlaps. Please feel free to join us next week Monday and Thursday for the final two Validation Workshops.

Monday 24 May saw the chapters dealing with government’s leadership and institutional arrangements, the legal and regulatory responses and selected court cases presented and debated. This was complimented by an in-depth case study on the challenges faced by the South African Police Service to date.

The macro-economic impact of the pandemic set the scene during the Thursday 27 May workshop. This was followed by a chapter unpacking the experience of and impact on the agricultural sector, with specific emphasis on the agility of the food supply chain during the first year of the pandemic. The workshop unpacked and analysed the devastating impact on the tourism and leisure sectors, as well as the effects on public transport. Several other economic sectors suffered with discussion around a select few such as the tobacco industry, real estate, and the banking sector. Lastly, the infrastructure chapter looked at networks such as water provision infrastructure, roads, and very importantly, ICT.

The agenda for the 31 May workshop can be found here, and the link can be found here.

All chapters, presentations, agendas, and recordings are available on the Covid-19 webpage.