Governance and Sustainability of Entrepreneurship During the Covid-19 Era in South Africa

Abstract

Globally governments have been putting efforts to sustain economies heavily affected by the Covid- 19 pandemic, particularly entrepreneurial-based activities. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine how governance in South Africa affected creative industries during the Covid-19 era. This article argues that a country can only sustain and benefit from the growth potential of creative industries when there is good governance and a clear model of development assistance during the Covid-19 era. A systematic literature review was conducted to source qualitative data using grey literature of media sources. The review was guided by the following questions: what governance issues affected creative industries during the Covid-19 era? And to what extent did the latter affect this sector during the Covid-19 lockdowns? Results show that poor governance coupled with corruption and the lack of a clear development assistance model affected the creative industries' activities and livelihoods, and further impacted their sustainability. A conceptual policy model is proposed to assist and sustain creative industries during and post-Covid-19 era to increase entrepreneurial activities and rebuild the economy