South Africa is in the third week of its national lockdown due to COVID-19 which is responsible for the death of 25 citizens. This comes from a total of 73 028 tested citizens with 2 003 confirmed cases and 410 recoveries.
With this outbreak, President Cyril Ramaphosa announced that the country will be on lockdown, effective 27 March, for 3 weeks. This was later extended to 2 weeks on 09 April.
As a result, South Africans have been asked to stay at home and only leave their homes when they require essential items such as medicine or food. The sale of alcohol and cigarettes has been prohibited during this period as well as walking for exercise or jogging. Public gatherings have been banned and funerals are restricted to 50 people.
Only those who carry out essential services have been permitted to work from their respective workplaces whilst the rest of the country has been asked to work from home. These employees are always expected to carry with them a permit that states that they carry out essential services.
This global epidemic has harmed the global economy where the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of many countries has decreased. South Africa was not immune to this, as the country is left in a recession and with an increase of 6.5% in poverty levels. The country’s GDP has contracted by 1.4% in its fourth quarter. This followed a revised 0.8% contraction in the third quarter. With the current economic state, many companies are considering the retrenchment of staff members to avoid running on a deficit.
R500 million was allocated by the Department of Small and Business Development to assist Small, Medium and Micro Enterprise (SMME) in distress, and the National Treasury has further allocated R30 billion to the COVID-19 Temporary Employer/Employee Relief Scheme to support companies that are closed during the lockdown. The requirements for SMMEs to access the funding are:
*They must be 100% owned by South African citizens
*They should employ at least 70% of SA nationals
*They must be registered with the South African
*Revenue Service (SARS) and tax-compliant.
Despite this initiative, the self-employed and hawkers are excluded as they do not qualify for any COVID-19 related benefits. This means that many South Africans are left without any source of income. To ensure compliance, the South African National Defence Force (SANDF) and the South African Police have been deployed throughout the country. With this, many hawkers are unable to trade and as a result, have no source of income as they are forced back into their houses.
In the township of Alexandra, hawkers have been battling for a permit they were promised that would allow them to be able to carry on trade on the streets and outside shopping centres, however, there have been complications with the jurisdiction of the permit, as the permits received by hawkers are not stamped with an official government stamp and as a result, the SANDF render the current permits they have null and void. Defenceless hawkers are left out in the cold to defend themselves against armed soldiers and police. No official has thus far taken ownership of this.
