12. Inequality, Unemployment, and Poverty in the COVID-19 Era in Eastern Cape Province, South Africa

Just like other Third World countries (3WCs), South Africa is faced with the triple threat of inequality, unemployment, and poverty, a burden which, though inherited from apartheid, has been intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic. Using the case of the Eastern Cape Province, which was one of the COVID-19 hotspots, this paper examines the challenges of inequality, unemployment, and poverty in low-income areas during a pandemic. Using methodological triangulation of purposively sampled secondary data and physical observations, this qualitative paper argues that more than two decades into democracy, socio-economic development is still a far cry from what it should be in South Africa, particularly in previously marginalised demographics. Against this background, this chapter maintains that the unprecedented economic implications of the COVID-19 pandemic have widened the inequality, unemployment, and poverty gaps in the Eastern Cape. The chapter further exposes how the accompanying by-products of the inequality, unemployment, and poverty nexus have particularly afflicted the young population, as evident in the high rates of crime, drug abuse and teenage pregnancies in the COVID-19 era.