Lessons learnt: COVID-19 and the climate crisis in South Africa

5 iii) A capable, trustworthy and strong state is essential With the rise and expansion of neoliberalism in the decades prior to the pandemic, the role of the state took on a form different to the one occupied in the 1950s and 60s. [...] Some have argued that neoliberalism saw the ‘reduction’ of the state, due to the key components of neoliberalism including the privatisation of previously public institutions and services, the deregulation of markets and reductions in government spending and welfare.25 While all of these components have certainly been key parts of the neoliberal turn, others have highlighted that rather than under. [...] The MEC is a system of capital accumulation, predicated on the exploitation of labour and nature; the devaluing of reproductive labour; and the alignment of political and economic vested interests within the mining and energy sectors that has been fundamental to the way in which the South African economy, and society, has been structured.39 Although mining no longer plays as large a role in South. [...] Fourthly, and linked to this, is the necessity of localisation of industrial and manufacturing processes which increase productivity and job creation and improve resilience to health and climate crises. [...] To implement any and all of these lessons, an orientation of the state and policy making is required that fundamentally addresses the structure of the economy and lays the foundation of a just transition through labour support, industrial policy and social protection.