JOHANNESBURG - While the global community has praised South Africa for its ability to flatten the COVID-19 first and second waves without vaccines, it has come at a great cost for small- and medium-sized enterprises one year after the first case was reported in the country.
She struggled to contain her tears as she recounted the uphill battle she faced since the lockdown was enforced and businesses were forced to shut down. Events company owner Reabetswe Mabotja said to Eyewitness News that she followed the advice of experts and became innovative when she could no longer host weddings and events of 250 people and more.
The Department of Small Business Development introduced a R500 million SMME support intervention for six months from April last year, meant to assist businesses with soft loan funding. But both these women said that despite applying, the service was not availed to them.The department’s Minister Khumbudzo Ntshavheni refused to be interviewed by Eyewitness News about the workings of the fund, saying the president already addressed the issue.
"It is very much in line with what we were expecting. And that is okay because it is one of the biggest pandemics we have ever had to realise as a country and the world... as a result, we have never seen the economy having to go through a lockdown. A 7% contraction is never okay. But certainly, I think how we climb out of it and how we recover in 2021 is going to be absolutely key."
"It makes my heart warm hearing that I could put food on the table for every beneficiary of the fund. We normally say we put food on the table for six people with every claim. There are stories that you hear from people who say to you that 'I have not had food on the table and the payment came through'," said acting UIF Commissioner Marsha Bronkhorst.
"You can appreciate with the same staff and the same capacity in terms of other infrastructure. We had to change our systems to make these massive amounts of payments. I must be straight and say I am very proud of the work that was done by the officials of the UIF," she said. The UIF already dipped into its reserves to finance the relief after initially budgeting R40 billion to struggling ailing businesses. Despite this, Bronkhorst assured Eyewitness News that the fund was still intact.Since the start of the scheme, the UIF has handed over 84 cases to the police relating to employers who are suspected of defrauding employees paid out by the TERS benefit.