Author(s): Kola Olusola Odeku
Globally, the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic is ravaging human beings at an alarming rate, with an increasing number of COVID-related deaths, and South Africa is no exception. As a matter of fact, on the African Continent, South Africa is the hardest hit with high infections and death rates. With regard to non-living things, all aspects of businesses being relied on by humans for employment and livelihood are also ravaged. The pandemic halted many global activities and restricted human movements and business operations all over the world. In South Africa, to curb the spread of the pandemic, the government swiftly lockdown the country and imposed restrictions through regulations. The problem is that the lockdowns and restrictions had adversely impacted many businesses and socio-economic activities as people have to stay at home, became unemployed, could not earn income and hunger was prevalent amid the pandemic. This article postulates that before the pandemic, South Africa faced severe socioeconomic challenges which include inequality, unemployment, and poverty. The pandemic has now entrenched and astronomically intensified socio-economic problems in South Africa as many people who were previously living on the periphery have lost everything including their lives due to the pandemic. Therefore, the key objective of this paper is to examine the impact and effects of COVID-19 pandemic on the businesses of the indigent and poor businesses which have tremendously affected their socio-economic well-beings. Methodically, the paper utilized an indepth literature review approach sourced mainly from google scholar, analysed and applied for the purposes of addressing the problem. The paper found that the pandemic has ravaged businesses owned by indigents and the poor and there is need for government intervention assistance to ameliorate the impact. Future studies might look at government intervention assistance post COVID-19 pandemic.