COVID-19, Health Systems Corruption, Economic Priorities and Poverty: The Case of South Africa

The South African government has been hailed internationally for its strategies and tactics in facing the challenges of COVID-19, at least during the initial stages of the pandemic.However, as time has passed, several questions have been raised on a wide range of issues due to key realities of social and economic policies, the responsibilities, capabilities and relationships of state layers and institutions, and the measures undertaken.It became evident after the first week following the lockdown in South Africa, that the deep consequences of chronic corruption at all levels and sectors, especially water and public health, had serious negative repercussions for the poorest of the poor and the marginalised communities.The actual repercussions have not been calculated yet, as priorities have changed significantly.Questions regarding the availability of 10% of the country's GDP (R500 billion), their beneficiaries, and the R130 billion made available through budget reprioritisation have not been answered, with the exception of the hundreds of millions attached to the remuneration of the 200 Cuban medical doctors, while the continuous reports on open and hidden corruption perpetrated by amongst others politicians, administrators, drug dealers, underground illegal operators including fake cigarette producers, and police personnel, continue unabated.Recent research has shown that the shortages of food amongst the poor begun a week before the lockdown and worsened during it.It took almost six weeks COVID-19, Health Systems Corruption, Economic Priorities and Poverty 253 from the start of the lockdown on the 26 th of March to the topping up of the child support grant by R300 on 6 May, to stop hunger amongst South Africa's poor communities.The article aspires to research, analyse and dissect the direct and indirect effects of corruption and its consequences and repercussions on the impact of COVID-19 to the most vulnerable communities in the country.It deals with corruption, its types, monitoring and assessment, effectiveness and efficiency of the security and enforcement agencies and their operations, as well as their repercussions for the poorest of the poor.Eight telephonic interviews with state officials throughout the country were conducted, four civil society groups directly involved in community and benevolent work participated through an open-ended questionnaire which was administered, using the judgemental sampling frame.All existing national and provincial government documents relating to the period as well as media articles have been searched, classified, and analysed through the separation and categorisation of themes (content analysis).The common patterns, themes, categories, and trends were dissected.The article covered a forgotten aspect of the period as its impact is not only sociological/criminological/historical but also contributes to understanding the existing gaps in government's social policy for the poor.The research aspires to make an original contribution to the 'hidden history' in the COVID-19 conundrum.