How the great Covid-19 race debate played out on social media

As initial unity over the pandemic fades, social media is now awash with polarising conversations.

South Africans came together as a nation when the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic first struck. Then, as the devastation of the pandemic deepened, we started drifting apart. We soon began clashing openly. As the virus tightened its grip, the discourse become more divisive. Issues around race and nationality emerged as a major fault line.

Now, with the crisis yet to peak, deliberate attempts to sow racial division, xenophobia and social discord are being fed into the national discourse.