Amanda Black on Covid-19's economic impact: It’s going to hit black folk tenfold

Amanda Black has weighed in on the economic fallout from Covid-19, saying that black people are likely to be hit harder than one else.

President Cyril Ramaphosa announced a 21-day national lockdown last month to curb the spread of the coronavirus, closing non-essential businesses and instructing people to stay home.

Reports have indicated that there will be a substantial economic slump from the lockdown, including founder of social movement #CountryDuty Tumi Sole.

Tumi took to Twitter to claim that “the economic impacts of Covid-19 will be felt for generations to come”.

Amanda responded to the comment, sharing her fear that it would be worse for the poor.

“It’s gonna hit black folk tenfold. The poor will be poorer and the rich will be richer,” she wrote.

Last month Amanda slammed the private sector for not doing enough to protect their workers during the pandemic.

“What is the private sector going to do to assist in this coronavirus crisis we are in? Most of the country is run by the private sector in some way or the other.

“At least pretend to care about your employees more than the bottom line. Everyone is suffering, even us. Give employees paid leave until we get a clear understanding of how long this will be,” she said on Twitter.

According to AFP, an African Union (AU) study published on Monday estimated that nearly 20-million jobs could be lost across the continent because of the crisis.

“Nearly 20-million jobs, both in the formal and informal sectors, are threatened with destruction on the continent if the situation continues,” states the study.

It said countries that rely heavily on tourism and oil production stand to be hit the hardest.