nequality defines our time, says United Nations secretary-general António Guterres in his hard-hitting 2020 Nelson Mandela Annual Lecture live-streamed across the globe yesterday.

Guterres says the covid-19 pandemic played an important role in highlighting growing inequalities, and exposing the myth that everyone is in the same boat. “While we are all floating on the same sea, it’s clear that some are in superyachts, while others are clinging to the floating debris.”

His address, as part of an annual global event on Madiba’s birthday, follows just days after he warned of deeply entrenched hunger globally.

This warning is supported by president of the International Fund for Agriculture Gilbert Houngbo who says, “We cannot continue thinking of agriculture, the environment, health, poverty and hunger in isolation. World problems are interconnected, and the solutions are intertwined. The current pandemic is a wake-up call to all of us.”