A Soweto resident walks past a graffiti art wall educating locals about the dangers of COVID-19 in South Africa.
Kim Ludbrook/EFE-EPA
It was the biases of its ‘first world’ which prevented South Africa from mobilising the energies and talents of most of its people against COVID-19.
It’s not just Northern accents that face discrimination. The Essex accent is also the source of stigma.
pxl.store/Shutterstock
Stereotyping people based on their accents is still a big problem at universities in England.
A taxi rank marshal sprays hand sanitiser on a commuter wearing a mask as a preventive measure as she arrives at the Wanderers taxi rank in Johannesburg.
Marco Longari/AFP via Getty Images
Reactions in South Africa give little reason for hope that the virus will bring people closer together or trigger more energetic action against poverty.