Thursday, April 23, 2020
Workers facing distress due to the COVID-19 lockdown continue to find relief, thanks to the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
According to the Employment and Labour Department, the fund has made progress towards the COVID-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme (TERS) while ramping up normal benefits to ensure that workers are not inconvenienced during the lockdown.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Finance Minister Tito Mboweni has provided more details on the second set of measures that are aimed at assisting individuals and businesses through the COVID-19 pandemic.
“There is a critical need for government interventions to assist with job retention and support businesses that may be experiencing significant distress,” the National Treasury said in a statement on Thursday.
Thursday, April 23, 2020
Life in South Africa will gradually begin to return to normal from next month, with government steadily easing the COVID-19 lockdown regulations, albeit under stringent stipulations.
From 1 May, government will implement a risk-adjusted strategy aimed at easing the current lockdown restrictions. The decision was taken during a National Coronavirus Command Council (NCCC) meeting on Thursday.
This was revealed by President Cyril Ramaphosa during an address to the nation on COVID-19, on Thursday evening.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
A total of 606 462 employees who have lost their income as a result of the lockdown imposed to mitigate against the spread of COVID-19 will receive their benefit from the Unemployment Insurance Fund (UIF).
To date, the UIF has received just over 55 268 applications from employers representing about 1 601 767 employees. In total, the UIF has over 1 800 000 employers registered on its database representing more than 8 million workers.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
The Department of Agriculture, Land Reform and Rural Development requests all interested wholesalers, distributors or agribusiness outlets to provide a list of specific agricultural production inputs they have in stock.
This, according to the department, will assist in the emergency procurement of these inputs to enable smallholder and communal farmers to complete the current production cycle.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Stats SA today released the results of a rapid response survey conducted with businesses during the lockdown.
Businesses were asked how the current crisis affected their operations in the two-week period from 30 March to 13 April 2020.
More than 700 businesses in the formal sector responded to the survey, outlining the pandemic’s impact on turnover, trading, workforce, imports and exports, purchases, prices, and business survival.
Tuesday, April 21, 2020
Government has announced a massive social relief and economic support package of R500 billion which amounts to around 10% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to mitigate against the blow of COVID-19 in the country.
President Cyril Ramaphosa announced the intervention as the country saw a rise of COVID-19 cases to 3465 with 58 deaths recorded as of Tuesday.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
In a bid to streamline and fast track COVID-19 related procurement processes, the Gauteng Health Department has urged suppliers of personal protective equipment (PPE) to register on its database.
Through a portal by the provincial Health Department, suppliers can indicate to the department what items they can provide.
“Attention is drawn to the National Treasury Instruction Note 8 of 2019-2020, which suppliers must familiarise themselves with, as it gives a guide on prices.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
If you are stuck at home with a burst pipe, you can now call your plumber to come fix it. This is just one of the changes made to regulations governing the extended COVID-19 lockdown.
The announcement was made by the Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs (Cogta) Minister, Dr Nkosazana Dlamini-Zuma, who was addressing the country on Thursday.
“Today, we’re not coming with many new regulations. We’re extending the regulations that exist because the lockdown was extended,” she explained.
Thursday, April 16, 2020
South Africa has expressed concern and alarm at the announcement by the President of the United States of America (USA) to cut funding to the World Health Organisation (WHO) with immediate effect.
“South Africa is particularly alarmed that the decision is made amid a global health crisis that requires a full-capacity World Health Organisation to provide support in combatting the deadly COVID-19 pandemic.