As much as the COVID-19 pandemic currently seems to generate comparatively low numbers of recorded cases and victims in Africa, its wide-ranging social, political and economic effects are already apparent. African governments’ responses to the emergency partly mirrored the containment and mitigation measures adopted in Europe, but they collided with a social and economic environment where lockdowns and social distancing are simply not sustainable. From a political point of view, the pandemic risks triggering new forms of instability as well as impacting on electoral processes and democratic practices, whereas the economic disruption brought about by the crisis is bound to cause Africa’s first recession in twenty-five years. What scenarios can be envisaged for a post-pandemic Africa?